B3 closure after spectacular accidents: No injuries, but chaos!

B3 closure after spectacular accidents: No injuries, but chaos!

This morning, October 27, 2025, there was a significant traffic incident on the B3 federal highway near Ötigheim, which paralyzed the route for a long time. A part of a truck came off shortly before 10 a.m. and caused a chain reaction that eventually hit an oncoming Nissan. The collision caused the Nissan's tire to burst, which increased the property damage to tens of thousands of euros, as reported by newsflash24.de.

The fire department was called to help after the truck leaked gasoline. In order to defuse the dangerous situation, the emergency services had to act quickly and pump out the fuel. Meanwhile, another incident occurred in the direction of Rastatt - here a third truck crashed into the rear of a vehicle in front after the other two trucks had stopped in time. Fortunately, there were no injuries in either accident.

Traffic flow and measures

Work to secure the accident site lasted until the afternoon. At around 2 p.m. the scene of the accident was finally cleared and traffic in the direction of Rastatt was able to move again. The B3 in the direction of Karlsruhe, however, remained closed until shortly before 4 p.m. This was necessary to carry out the earthworks to clean up the fuel spill. Representatives from the Environment Agency were on site to monitor the clean-up work and ensure that no damage was left to the environment.

To better understand the context of these incidents, let's look at the general statistics of traffic accidents in Baden-Württemberg for 2023. A total of 306,644 accidents were registered, of which 33,630 resulted in personal injury. This corresponds to approximately 10.97% of all accidents. The most common causes of accidents are insufficient distance and inadequate speeds, as statistics-bw.de shows.

Trends and safety in road traffic

According to current statistics, the number of traffic accidents in Germany has not changed drastically in recent years, but there has been a worrying increase in accidents resulting in property damage. In 2024, around 2.5 million road traffic accidents were recorded in Germany, which represents a slight decrease compared to the previous year. Particular attention should be paid to the increasing number of accidents involving e-bikes and e-scooters, in which over 26,000 drivers were injured or killed in 2024, as statista.com notes.

The EU transport ministers are pursuing the ambitious “Vision Zero” goal, which aims to achieve zero traffic fatalities by 2050. The infrastructure can be improved and the awareness of road users can be raised so that they can act more carefully on the roads.

The events on the B3 near Ötigheim are warning examples of how quickly dangerous situations can arise and how important it is to ensure safety on our roads.