A century of road safety

By Jürgen Klute

In line with the theme, the closing ceremony for DEKRA’s 100th anniversary took place on 30 September at Auto World in Parc Cinquantenaire in Brussels. This followed a larger celebration in Berlin, the ‘birthplace’ of DEKRA, and several smaller celebrations and company parties at various locations around the world.

DEKRA stands for Deutscher Kraftfahrzeug-Überwachungs-Verein e.V. (German Motor Vehicle Inspection Association). As car traffic developed rapidly in the 1920s, it soon became apparent that cars could not only transport people and goods from one place to another more quickly, but that they could also pose a danger to both their users and other road users. The industrial magnate Hugo Stinnes concluded that technical inspection of the new self-propelled vehicles was necessary to prevent or at least reduce accidents involving motor vehicles, and in 1924 he developed the idea of voluntary technical inspection for motor vehicles. DEKRA e.V. was then founded on 30 June 1925.

Today, DEKRA’s headquarters are located in Stuttgart. And since 1990, in addition to the association, there has also been DEKRA SE, which now has almost 50,000 employees and is active on all five continents and in more than 60 countries. Today, its portfolio no longer includes only motor vehicle safety, but also technical safety in many other areas. (A more detailed overview of DEKRA’s development can be found here)

DEKRA CEO Stan Zurkiewicz, together with presenter and journalist Kimsy von Reischach, recalled the most important milestones in this long history. However, they did not focus solely on the past, but also looked to the future. The development of electric cars and, step by step, self-driving cars, driven by digitalisation and artificial intelligence, is creating new challenges for road safety. DEKRA is increasingly addressing these challenges.

Global warming, to which car traffic contributes significantly, played a prominent role that evening. DEKRA has no direct influence on the energy and automotive transition. However, DEKRA has a partnership with UNICEF and will donate €1 million annually to UNICEF over the next five years to contribute to the global supply of clean drinking water. Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Aboubacar Kampo, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia, underlined the importance of this partnership and emphasised that global warming is by no means a future threat, but has long been a life-threatening reality in parts of Africa, for example.

CEO Stan Zurkiewicz was not the only DEKRA representative that evening. He was joined in Brussels by Wolfgang Linsenmaier (Member of the Management Board of DEKRA e.V. and DEKRA SE), Peter Laursen (Member of the Management Board of DEKRA SE) and Petra Finke (Member of the Management Board of DEKRA SE) to welcome the guests, including German Ambassador Martin Kotthaus.

Welcoming speeches were given by Sabine Verheyen, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection. The latter emphasised the importance of DEKRA for consumer protection, which is a high priority for the EU.

After the presentations and welcoming speeches, the more than 500 visitors were treated to a rich buffet offering dishes from a wide variety of countries and drinks, and there were plenty of opportunities for conversation. The ‘Grammophon Jazzband’ provided pleasant musical accompaniment for the evening.

DEKRA e.V. and the DEKRA EU Office in Brussels (originally founded in the early 1990s as the DEKRA Group’s representative office in Brussels), which has been headed by Oliver Deiters for 26 years, succeeded in organising an impressive anniversary celebration with this evening, as many of the guests commented.

On 19 November 2025, as every year, the DEKRA Road Safety Report 2024 will be presented in Brussels, this time at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU.

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