After the overtaking manoeuvre, there was no more space in the left lane in the construction area: at 2.10 meters too narrow for the coach from Kosovo. Initial investigations by the police leave little doubt that the bus driver made a mistake.
During the night on Thursday, five seriously injured and eleven slightly injured required a coach from Kosovo to overtake. Via Vienna, where the two bus drivers exchanged views, the journey was to go via Salzburg to Germany – stops in Munich and Cologne were planned, among other places. Instead of in Hanover, the journey for the 26 passengers ended prematurely at just after 3 a.m. on the Westautobahn (A1) between Eugendorf and Salzburg-Nord. Lane with a width of 2.10 meters The 56-year-old bus driver told the police that he wanted to overtake a truck driving on the right at about 80 km/h. Only: the overtaking process was no longer in time before a construction site. Both drove into the restricted area north of the Salzburg-Kasern exit. However, the freeway area on the left, intended exclusively for cars with a maximum width of 2.10 meters, was too narrow for the bus. The driver therefore steered his vehicle into the oncoming lane and broke through the concrete divider. The final stop was only in the crash barrier. All 28 occupants were able to free themselves from the bus, only nine remained unharmed. 23 passengers traveled on with the replacement bus. Further investigations and witness interviews are pending. 23 bus passengers started their journey to Germany in the morning with a replacement bus. The A1 was only fully opened to traffic around noon. In the morning traffic, the traffic jam in the direction of Salzburg was up to 7.5 kilometers long. The bypass traffic made the city and neighboring towns groan as well.
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