After this Freezing rain from the day before there were already traffic obstructions on Thursday due to snowfall in Bavaria. The German weather service again warned against staying outdoors, special caution is required in road traffic.
Many accidents on mirror-smooth roads
Accidents occurred on the roads, especially in southern Bavaria, due to black ice and fresh snow. The police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North alone reported 220 traffic accidents within 24 hours, one of which was fatal. According to the police, numerous drivers were driving on slippery winter roads with summer tires.
In Murnau, Upper Bavaria, a 79-year-old fell on an icy sidewalk on Wednesday and died a short time later in the hospital. First responders and rescue services had tried in vain to resuscitate the man after the fall. According to the police headquarters in Oberbayern Nord, a 23-year-old driver died on Wednesday afternoon between Olching and Oberschleißheim who had got into oncoming traffic.
In the city of Munich, the cemeteries have been closed since Wednesday because of the slippery terrain. According to a city spokesman, funeral services and burials will continue to be offered. According to a spokeswoman, the zoo in Augsburg was able to reopen. The zoo was closed on Wednesday.
Vehicles slide off the road
The Lower Bavarian police headquarters reported more than 40 accidents with at least nine people injured during the night and early Thursday morning. “Fortunately, there were no traffic accidents with serious injuries,” said a police spokesman. Many vehicles had slipped off the roadway, causing disabilities.
There were over a dozen accidents involving 23 vehicles on Autobahns 9 and 99 near Munich. Overall, the damage was around 120,000 euros.
Fatal accident on the B14 in Middle Franconia
The wintry road conditions in Middle Franconia claimed one fatality. A 66-year-old man died in a collision between two cars on the B14 near Lauf an der Pegnitz in the morning. Three other people were hospitalized with injuries, a police spokesman told Bayerischer Rundfunk. According to him, the 66-year-old had run into oncoming traffic near the Bräunleinsberg junction for reasons that are still unclear and collided head-on with an oncoming van. Any help came too late for the driver. His passenger and the driver and passenger of the van were moderately injured. An expert should now clarify the cause of the accident. The B14 was temporarily closed.
The B289, like the A9 in the Hof district, was temporarily completely closed after a head-on collision between two vehicles.
Overturned truck trailer: A8 closed for hours
On the A8 (Augsburg-Munich) early Thursday morning, a truck accident on a snow-covered road caused the highway to be closed for hours. A truck had started to sway around 1.20 a.m. near Odelzhausen in the Dachau district, whereupon the truck trailer overturned. The driver was not injured in the accident, a police spokesman said. The emergency services diverted traffic, and the road remained closed until early morning.
Train cancellations at the operator Go-Ahead
Despite the extreme weather, Deutsche Bahn (DB) did not initially report any significant restrictions on the railway lines. The private company “Go-Ahead Bayern”, on the other hand, again had massive restrictions after many of the operator’s trains had to stop on Wednesday – some on the open route.
There were cancellations on Thursday at Go-Ahead due to trains damaged the day before. “It has been shown that the vehicles in the Augsburg network in particular not up to the lightning ice were,” it said. There could still be restrictions in the next few days.
The routes around Augsburg should in the coming days with a so-called Shuttle concept between the hubs of Augsburg, Munich and Donauwörth operate. Just a few days ago, Go-Ahead took over the regional routes around Augsburg, which are used by many people, from DB. The company is also struggling with staff shortages and can therefore not offer all connections.
With information from dpa and AFP