Five wrong-way drivers in just four weeks - the construction site near Oberau confuses the car drivers

Five wrong-way drivers in just four weeks.

The construction site on the B23 near Oberau seems to confuse many drivers.

Nevertheless, experts believe that the traffic control is adequately signposted.

Oberau

- Thomas Bissinger has experienced a lot in road construction.

Be it at his previous company, or now at the Autobahn Directorate.

“Mei, I can tell stories - nobody believes them.” The one from Ettaler Berg, for example, when the B23 was closed because of the slope stabilization work.

And who went into the mountain first?

“A driving school.” Around the corner.

But at his newest construction site, the Oberauer Tunnel, there have been some strange encounters: complete strangers in the unfinished tunnel, drivers in the middle of the construction site - not uncommon.

Currently, however, the road builders as well as the regulatory authorities are struggling with another problem on the B2: wrong-way drivers.

Five cases have been registered since the beginning of October.

The situation has worsened after the traffic at the south portal was shifted on one side to the new bridge on October 28th.

In the first days of November, three road users got on the wrong side of the four-lane route with structural separation and Farchanter tunnel in the direction of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

"Fortunately, nothing has happened so far," says Florian Thoma, the traffic specialist at the police in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

"But that shouldn't happen more often."

In 2018 and 2019 there were six wrong-way drivers, now five in just four weeks

It hasn't been in the past either.

This is shown by the numbers that Thoma digs up from the statistics: There were six cases in 2018, just as many in 2019, and three in 2020 by the end of September.

"And now five wrong-way drivers in four weeks." So the police chief wrote a letter to the authorities involved - asking them to review the situation.

“We cannot do more as the police, we are only active in an advisory capacity,” notes Thoma.

The district office issues the traffic regulations for the federal highways.

+

Thomas Bissinger is responsible for road construction.

© Very

The authorities reacted quickly.

Especially after a 40-ton truck got on the wrong side on November 3rd.

A dicey situation - even at 5 a.m.

On the same day, the experts met on the spot to examine the traffic management at the construction site entrance.

Conclusion: There was nothing to complain about.

"We can't build it better," says Bissinger clearly.

Another variant "would definitely have been worse"

In the preparatory phase, there had been discussions about another variant of allowing traffic to run across the bridge in one lane immediately.

"But that would definitely have been worse," emphasizes the expert.

In the southern area, where the newly built communal connection road meets the B2 again, the number of beacons has even been increased significantly compared to the norm in order to prevent wrong-way driving.

A dangerous situation had already arisen there, too: a road user wanted to turn around in his car before it became four lanes.

The problem with the wrong-way drivers basically seems to be the northern entrance to the construction site near Oberau.

"But I don't get it that people drive over a double solid line," says Bissinger.

Light signals on the beacons show the way.

Likewise a blue direction arrow.

There will now be another change for this sign.

"We're going to install one of size 3, which is normal on motorways."

The district office also sees no need for further security measures

The District Office ensures that no further security measures are required.

"All the orders that are required by the road traffic regulations have been implemented," confirms press spokesman Wolfgang Rotzsche.

What gives those involved a little hope: That the ghost drivers of the past few days were just extraordinary coincidences with bizarre stories.

"The incidents were anything but normal," says Bissinger.

Even policeman Thoma doesn't contradict that.

The officers could not find two road users.

The other three were curiously all familiar with the area, but otherwise limited.

One woman drove “considerably drunk”, the truck driver came back from work in England after four weeks, completed his first tour, another road user - over 80 years old - was very unreasonable after his tunnel journey, claiming that everything was done right to have.

Investigations are still ongoing in this case.