Salzburg – black ice – suddenly freezing rain – caused a number of traffic accidents on the streets of Salzburg on Friday night. In Pinzgau, a driver from the Netherlands slid into a coach, in Pongau the Tauern Autobahn (A10) between the Tauern tunnel and the Reittunnel had to be closed in both directions from midnight to 2.15 a.m. The highway could only be cleared of ice through the massive use of road salt.

Around midnight in the municipality of Saalfelden (Pinzgau), a 47-year-old Dutchman lost control of his car on the slippery road surface. He slid across the oncoming lane and collided with an oncoming coach. As a result of the collision, the Dutchman’s car was thrown into the ditch and the coach came to a standstill in its lane. None of the 27 occupants in the bus were injured.

However, the Dutchman’s son was taken to the Zell am See hospital for further examinations. At the same time, a subsequent truck had to stop on the road due to the accident. A car driver from Pinzgau collided with the heavy vehicle. She was also transported to the hospital in Zell am See.

The police also reported two injured people in a traffic accident due to the sudden freezing of the road in Pongau. In ten other traffic accidents, however, there was only property damage. On the Pinzgauer Straße (B311) a semi-trailer truck skidded, hit the guardrail and then came to a standstill across the road. In the course of the rescue, towing, cleaning and spreading work, the federal road was closed to all traffic from 11.45 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Numerous accidents also on Upper Austria’s roads

Ice-slippery roads after suddenly freezing rain also caused a number of traffic accidents in Upper Austria on Thursday evening and Friday night. On the Innkreisautobahn (A8) a couple from Germany was seriously injured after a collision with a car parked on the road, on the Pyhrnautobahn (A9) several vehicles collided in a traffic jam and in the Schärding district a car was threatened after an accident in the Danube slide.

According to the police report, a 33-year-old woman on the Innkreisautobahn near Aistersheim (Grieskirchen district) fell into a skid after freezing rain, according to the police report. The car came to a stop in the opposite direction of travel. A subsequent 73-year-old driver from Germany could no longer evade and crashed into the stationary vehicle. The man and his 77-year-old passenger were seriously injured. Both were delivered by the ambulance to the hospital in Ried im Innkreis. The 33-year-old and her children aged nine and eleven were also injured and taken to the Wels Clinic.

Shortly after 9 p.m. there was also a series of rear-end collisions on the Pyhrnautobahn (A9). After the Trettertunnel near Schlierbach (Kirchdorf an der Krems district) was closed, several vehicles stopped in front of the tunnel entrance. Because of the onset of freezing rain, one truck and four cars could not stop in time for the end of the traffic jam. They collided with each other, and three people suffered minor injuries.

At the same time, a driver (61) in Sierning (Steyr-Land district) stopped his car in front of an intersection because the road was as smooth as glass. A subsequent driver (35) could not stop, slipped against the car in front of her and pushed it against a traffic sign. The 61-year-old and his co-driver (60) suffered minor injuries.

At around 1:15 a.m., a 26-year-old woman from Germany skidded with her car on Nibelungenstrasse (B130) near Esternberg (Schärding district) on the icy road in a long curve. The car broke through a railing, overturned a two-meter-high concrete wall and got caught in the perennials on the bank of the Danube. The car lying on the roof threatened to slide into the river. The woman and her 23-year-old passenger were able to free themselves from the severely damaged car. They only suffered minor injuries. The accident vehicle was used by the fire brigade and should be recovered on Friday. (APA)