Locking after truck accident on A4: Transport chaos in Cologne ended!

Locking after truck accident on A4: Transport chaos in Cologne ended!

In the morning of April 25, 2025, there was a serious traffic accident on the A4 near Cologne when a truck tipped over. The driver of the truck was slightly injured in the incident, while the salvage work took several hours due to further complications. Shortly after 8:00 p.m., the vehicle was completely rescued, which meant that the blocked lanes could only be released for traffic around midnight, such as Dewezet.de reported.

The truck had fallen on the side on Thursday morning, which led to significant traffic disruptions. Between the Köln-Eifeltor and Köln-Klettenberg junctions, only one trace was accessible, which led to a traffic jam of up to ten kilometers during rush hour traffic. The rescue work was delayed because the tank was torn open when the vehicle was upset, so that diesel expired. As a result, the fire brigade had to pump up several hundred liters of fuel and deploy them for further use.

complications in the rescue work

In addition to the immediate consequences of the accident, the damaged protective plank between the lanes had to be repaired after the rescue. The road conditions and the condition of the infrastructure play an important role in traffic safety. According to Europarl.eu , thousands of people in the EU lose their lives or are seriously injured in traffic accidents. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of road traffic fats in Europe fell by 36 percent.

In 2019 there were 22,800 traffic fatalities, while the number decreased by 4,000 to 18,800 in 2020. Preliminary figures show that in 18 EU member states the number of fatalities is at a record low, which is partly due to pandeme-related traffic declines. This makes it clear how important the continuous improvement of security standards and infrastructure is to protect life.

traffic statistics and their importance

The high proportion of young roaddresses is particularly alarming. In 2018, 12 percent of the traffic fatalities between 18 and 24 years old, although this age group is only 8 percent of the population. The proportion of men among the victims also remains high; 76 percent of the traffic fatalities were men, a pattern that is observed in all Member States. These statistics illustrate the need for targeted measures to promote traffic safety, especially among young drivers, and to improve infrastructure to avoid accidents.

The incident on the A4 is a tragic memory of the dangers of road traffic and shows how important security and prevention are to prevent such accidents.