Germany’s A3 Reopens After Series of Holiday Traffic Collisions

Multiple accidents on April 11 left 18 injured, caused massive traffic disruption, and prompted an ongoing investigation into their causes.

A series of accidents on the A3 near Helmstadt during holiday travel resulted in 18 injuries, including severe and life-threatening cases.
The initial collision occurred when a driver failed to notice the end of a traffic jam, damaging seven vehicles and injuring 10 people, two seriously.
A second crash followed when a 37-year-old truck driver collided with a stationary RV, severely injuring himself and two others.
A separate multi-vehicle accident later in the evening at Anschlussstelle Marktheidenfeld injured five people and further disrupted traffic.
The A3 was closed for over nine hours, with emergency services deploying over 100 responders; investigations into the causes, particularly the second collision, are ongoing.