A deadly vehicle attack in Germany has once again raised concerns about vehicles being used as weapons, as it follows a series of similar attacks around the world.
In the latest incident, one person was killed and more than a dozen others were injured when a vehicle plowed into a crowd near Berlin’s Christopher Street Day (CSD) Pride celebration on Saturday evening. The attack took place in the Tiergarten area near the Brandenburg Gate, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered for one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ events.
German authorities launched a massive search operation and later identified a 21-year-old suspect who was known to police to allegedly have ties to Islamic groups. Investigators are continuing to investigate the circumstances and motive behind the attack.
But whatever the motive, the incident once again highlights a troubling question raised by similar attacks in recent years: Why are vehicles so often used as weapons?
Armed cars have global reach
The size, speed and maneuverability of cars also make them potentially deadly.
In recent years they have been used more frequently to kill or maim people. Cars became prominent as a weapon in terrorist attacks during the ongoing conflict with local terrorist groups in Israel in the early 2010s.
The use of vehicles in public places was also encouraged by the so-called “Islamic State” group in the mid-2010s. In Europe, the attacks in Nice – where a truck attack killed 86 people – Westminster Bridge in London, Barcelona and the 2016 attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 13 are among the most devastating incidents.
Cars have also been used in several attacks in China and several high profile incidents in the US.
Although many of these attacks had religious and political motivations, this was not always the case. Even those that occur together may be unrelated.
This is true of the recent series of events in Germany, which had no common ideological thread.
The alleged perpetrator of the December 2024 Magdeburg attack was a Saudi national with anti-Islamic views.
Conversely, the suspect in the February Munich murders may have had pro-Islamic motivations, according to prosecutors.
And the suspect at the center of March’s Mannheim attack is believed to be a German-born man with no history of extremist tendencies.
What they usually do is car.
copycat attacks
In 2018, sociologist Vincent Miller of the University of Kent, UK, and Keith Hayward, professor of criminology at the University of Copenhagen, co-authored a study about the nature of car collisions as “exemplary” events.
He argues that such incidents function like “memes” offering a model for others to replicate rather than encouraging any specific ideological motivation.
Miller pointed to recent incidents in China, which have been described as “revenge attacks on society” and have resulted in the death penalty for the perpetrators.
“The people who are doing this are often quite unhappy, there’s a sense of injustice, there’s a sense of anger,” Miller told DW.
Following such attacks, there can be no definitive evidence of political or religious motives.
“They often attack out of anger or in a hurry,” Miller said.
“They are very diverse individuals. Some may be Muslim radicals, some may be American right-wing activists, some may have mental health problems. It is very difficult to define the profile of a criminal. The main thing they have in common is the act.”
Years after writing his paper, Miller still stands by the core argument that the biggest thing these attacks may have in common is the risk of the action. The psychology behind them is not that easy to explain.
“It subconsciously becomes part of people’s options to express their anger in some way and they’re exposed to it through the media and social media,” he says.
What can be done to prevent such attacks in future?
Pauline Pelley, international security expert at RAND Europe, a research organization, was involved in a 2022 report for the European Commission exploring ways to prevent car collision attacks.
“It’s a little difficult to understand what the motivations are and whether there is a real pattern, or whether it’s just a collection of isolated incidents,” Paley told DW.
“I don’t think this is a threat that is unique to Europe and in terms of psychology, I think it very much depends on the motivations and political objectives that the attackers have.”
The RAND report examined how access to vehicles could be restricted through rental or peer-to-peer schemes, which were used by suspects in the US attacks, the New Orleans and Las Vegas bombings.
Increasing barriers to rental vehicles could be a useful solution. Enforcing strong identification requirements, financial deposits and background checks are also options.
Geofencing – a technology that uses location data such as from a GPS system to define virtual boundaries for cars around a certain area – could also be applied to smart vehicles by authorities and prevent future hit-and-run attacks. But for such technologies to work, the incident must be identified quickly to prevent loss of life.
Redesigned urban areas could be one of the simplest ways to prevent car-related collisions.
Pyle points to segregated streets and sidewalks as an example. “Things that make it more difficult for a vehicle to access certain locations,” she explained. “I found it quite interesting in terms of thinking about public space and making sure it is usable by everyday citizens, but also helping to protect them.”
Bollards are an option commonly used in built-up areas, although Pelley said the effectiveness of physical barriers is unclear.
“Physical barriers … may be a deterrent, but it is difficult to assess whether that is the case, or whether people are simply moving to other methods of violence.”
As investigators continue to probe the circumstances of the Berlin attack, authorities have pointed to the suspect’s alleged ties to Islamist circles as an important direction of the investigation. Yet regardless of the final findings on motive, this incident underscores the continuing challenge of protecting public spaces from everyday vehicular attacks.
Edited by: Jess Smee