Fatal accident

Debris was scattered 300 meters away

Four vehicles were involved in the accident at the national border, and for one driver (53) all help came too late.(Bild: FF Steyr)

An 83-year-old senior citizen was driving too fast on his way home and overtook despite a double barrier. The oncoming traffic was unable to take evasive action and a 53-year-old lost his life as a result. Calls for mandatory age verification immediately became louder again.

A field of wreckage awaited the emergency services late on Thursday afternoon in Wachtberg (Lower Austria) - right on the state border near Steyr. "Three vehicles were badly damaged. The debris was spread over a length of 300 meters. Two cars came to a halt on the road, one was thrown into the ditch. We shared the operation with the local fire department," reports Manuel Brunner, head of operations and officer of the day at the Steyr fire department.

Oncoming traffic probably overlooked
The wild accident was caused by an 83-year-old man from Steyr. According to the police, the senior citizen was driving in the direction of his home town when he started an overtaking maneuver despite the double barrier line and presumably at excessive speed. In doing so, he probably overlooked an oncoming Hungarian (53) and collided head-on with his vehicle. Due to the enormous force of the collision, another car was hit and a Lower Austrian (58) ended up in the ditch with his badly demolished vehicle

Three drivers trapped in the wreck
Three of the drivers were trapped in their wrecks. However, only two of them could be rescued alive. For the Hungarian, who had been involved in the accident through no fault of his own, all help came too late. The senior citizen and the man from Lower Austria were seriously injured in the accident and had to be airlifted to hospitals in Wels and Steyr respectively.

Four vehicles were involved in the accident at the provincial border, for one driver (53) all help came too late(Bild: FF Steyr)

There was also a fatal accident on Friday. The driver of the van had no chance of survival.(Bild: Lauber/laumat.at Matthias)

Van crashed into the rear of a truck
While the "Krone" forum (over 300 comments) was still discussing an annual test of fitness to drive, there was another fatal accident in Upper Austria: on the A8 near Pichl near Wels, the driver of a van crashed into the back of a semi-trailer truck on Friday morning. The completely demolished van was dragged along for several meters - the driver died in the wreck.