Ottnanger (63) died

Box van against articulated lorry: driver died

The van driver had no chance of survival.(Bild: laumat)

A driving error cost the life of a driver on the A8 near Wels on Friday morning. But it is not yet clear exactly who made what mistake. An articulated lorry had just changed lanes when a van "hit" behind it - its driver from Ottnang am Hausruck is dead. The tailback stretched as far as Aistersheim.

The serious accident happened at 10.22 a.m. on the A8 just before the Pichl bei Wels exit, after the 50-year-old truck driver from Belarus had driven from the Schnittering parking lot across the acceleration lane onto the Innkreis freeway towards Graz.

"I looked in the rear-view mirror several times to check whether the road was clear and I could change lanes," the driver told the police.

Shortly afterwards, there was a "thud": a small truck had "smashed" into the back of the van. It is unclear whether the truck driver "cut" the Ottnanger (63) and thus contributed to the accident. It is also possible that the small truck driver simply overlooked the heavy vehicle or underestimated the difference in speed. The man from Ottnang (63) was trapped and fatally injured in the accident.