Overview

• Initial findings indicate a 25-year-old driver passed a 38-year-old on the right, then collided while moving left, sending the other car over the median into oncoming traffic near Frankfurt.
• German traffic rules require overtaking on the left, and right-side passing is generally prohibited under the Straßenverkehrsordnung.
• Kirstin Zeidler of the insurers’ accident research calls right-side overtaking extremely dangerous and urges drivers to avoid it.
• ADAC notes limited exceptions, including lane-by-lane congestion where queues move at different speeds and cautious passing on the right when vehicles on the left are stationary or at 60 km/h or below.
• Penalties include a €100 fine and one point outside towns and a €30 warning fine in urban areas, with potential criminal liability if others are endangered; last year 232 such crashes outside built-up areas caused four deaths, a small share of roughly 19,000 Autobahn injury accidents.