His gaze went straight ahead.
Blue lights, loudspeakers, even a police block, ignored an 86-year-old who was driving the wrong way on the A8 to Munich on the night of October 6th - and that for many kilometers.
Despite dangerous situations, there was no accident.
A small miracle for the police.
Holzkirchen
- The first report was received shortly after 2 a.m. on Wednesday (October 6).
At Weyarn, an anthracite-colored VW Tiguan came towards a driver on the autobahn in the direction of Salzburg - in the left lane.
A patrol from the Autobahn Police Station (APS) Holzkirchen chased away.
"We are not pursuing on the wrong lane," emphasizes APS director Michael Janski.
On the road in the direction of Munich, the patrol succeeded in catching up with the Tiguan shortly after the Holzkirchen service area and sitting next to it parallel to it.
“The man did not react to blue lights, lights and loudspeakers,” reports Janski, “he drove on with a stare look at 80 km / h.” He kept to the right-hand traffic law, but was actually in the overtaking lane of the oncoming lane.
Some officers had to jump aside
Due to the time, there was not much going on on the motorway in the direction of Salzburg.
Nevertheless, according to the police, some cars had to avoid the VW to avoid a head-on collision.
“It is only by chance that nothing happened,” says Janski.
Strips of the Munich police headquarters quickly blocked the A 8, A 99 and A 995 motorways in the direction of Salzburg in order to protect oncoming traffic - and to stop the 86-year-old.
The first barrier was formed about a kilometer behind the Hofoldinger Forst junction.
According to Janski, the police cars formed a “bottleneck” alley.
“We hoped that the driver would come to his senses and stop.” But he didn't.
The 86-year-old from the Ebersberg district, who used to work as a bus driver, rounded the barrier at 60 km / h and accelerated.
Some officers had to jump aside.
One kilometer further, the wrong-way driver was faced with a second ban, this time without a bottleneck.
“Thank God we had enough people who were there quickly,” says Janski.
The 86-year-old finally stopped in front of the cross-standing police cars.
"He made a completely absent, disoriented impression," reports Janski, "he was not aware of the scope of what he was doing." The retired bus driver could not remember where he had entered the motorway and gave no information about where he was going wanted to.
Police are looking for witnesses: who saw the anthracite-colored VW Tiguan?
Initial investigations revealed that the man had disappeared about 20 hours before the ghost ride. According to Janski, he could have made a trip to the Rosenheim or Bad Aibling area. Fresh accident damage was found on the Tiguan. “That could have happened when parking or leaving a parking space,” says Janski. The APS (telephone number 0 80 24/90 730) hopes that more witnesses will report who had to evade the wrong-way driver or who noticed the VW Tiguan with Ebersberger license plates on Tuesday during the day. The investigators are currently assuming that the 86-year-old has entered the A 8 between Irschenberg and Weyarn, possibly on the temporary exit at the Seehamer See rest area.
The police withheld the driver's license and opened criminal proceedings for endangering road traffic.
His family finally picked up the 86-year-old.
“He and the cars coming towards him were very lucky that night,” says Janski.