On the wrong side of the road - wrong-way drivers
The nightmare of every driver:
The traffic channel reports a wrong-way driver on the section of the motorway you're currently on.
Read our tips to see what you should do in this situation. Or what you should do if you yourself have accidentally ended up on the wrong lane.
This is what you do when you hear a wrong-way driver alert:
- Stay calm
- Reduce your speed
- Increase the distance between you and the car in front
- Get in lane and do not overtake
- If possible, drive to the nearest car park or rest area and wait there until you hear the all-clear
This is what you should do if you yourself are the wrong-way driver:
- Switch on the hazard warning lights and the dimmed headlights to warn the oncoming traffic.
- Stop by the side of the road as soon as possible
- Put on the safety vest
- Get out of the car and stay safe behind the guard rail.
- Do not under any circumstances reverse back to the access road
- Do not turn around or drive across the road
Be careful with your navigation system!
Even of the sat nav tells you to turn around, do not turn around immediately, but drive on until you get to the next junction.
If possible, alert us using an emergency telephone. There are emergency telephones along the road every 1.5 kilometres. The emergency telephone automatically transmits the road you're on, in which direction you are driving and where exactly you are. We immediately notify the police about wrong-way drivers and then take all necessary further steps. This saves valuable time in an emergency.
Wrong-way drivers - we respond promptly
Every driver will at some point have heard a wrong-way driver announcement on the radio. But what goes on behind the scenes?
This is what we do before we give the all-clear.
- We alert the police and the traffic channel
- We activate the overhead warning messages and update the notification boards
- All emergency telephones along that section flash
- Our operators in the traffic management centres watch the wrong-way driver on the cameras
- We switch the nearby tunnels to yellow (=attention) or to red (=tunnel closed)
Only once we have received the executive all-clear do we deactivate all the signs and displays and notify all involved organisational units and the radio channel.
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Warning signs
There are more than 400 wrong-way driver warning signs in the access areas. -
Sensors on the road
Sensors on the road immediately sound the alarm, when a vehicle drives in the wrong direction -
Wrong-way driver locks
Twenty so-called "wrong-way driver claws" (Geisterfahrerkrallen) are installed in the road. When a car drives onto the motorway the wrong way, metal claws with sharp steel points pop up from the ground and pierce the tyres. This stops the wrong-way drivers even before they get onto the motorway. -
Evaluation of problem areas
Wrong-way driver problem areas, sections where you find an above-average number of wrong-way drivers, are examined very carefully. If necessary, the signposting, lighting and the markings on the road are adjusted or structural changes (e.g. installation of road claws) are put into place.