“Car travelers are in for one of the worst traffic weekends of the season. During last summer, the last weekend in July was by far the most congested in terms of congestion.” stated ADAC.
Schoolchildren in Baden-Württemberg started their vacation on Thursday and today was the last day of school in Bavaria, so now all children in Germany have summer vacation. Residents of these states are now expected to go on vacation. Parents with children from Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, where the new school year will start in just a week, are on the other hand returning home. The holidays will soon end in Scandinavia as well, which means further traffic complications, according to ADAC.
“A lot of patience is required on all major holiday routes in both directions,” urged the car club. This applies not only to the roads to the sea, but also to mountain regions and lake areas. During the summer traffic season, work is carried out on a number of road sites, which, according to ADAC, leads to further traffic jams due to narrowing and lane closures. Work is currently underway on 1,230 sections of highways in Germany.
The German highways will be especially crowded starting this afternoon, and the traffic situation on Saturday and Sunday will not be significantly different. “So it is true that those who don’t want to stand in queues should choose an alternative date during the week, for example from Tuesday to Thursday. The same goes for the return trips.” recommended by ADAC.
Where to be careful
According to ADAC, they are the worst sections that drivers can go on this weekend all routes to the North and Baltic seas, motorways around Hamburg and Munich, the A7 motorway connecting the south and north of Germany, the Berlin motorway ring, the A8 motorway from Stuttgart via Munich to the Austrian Salzburg or the A9 motorway between Berlin, Nuremberg and Munich. Czech drivers could be particularly affected by ADAC’s warning on sections of highways in the vicinity of Dresden, Řezno and Hof.
Complications for drivers can also be border controls, which Germany restored on the borders with the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Switzerland due to the fight against illegal migration. Although the checks are rather random, according to ADAC, it is necessary to expect a delay of thirty minutes to an hour due to the high traffic load. Germany has also introduced border controls with France due to the Olympics starting today in Paris. Even on this section of the German border, drivers can wait for clearance.
ADAC also pointed out that in the convoys, you have to think about the rescue lane and that those who do not pay attention to the regulations face a fine of up to 320 euros (CZK 8120). The auto club further stated that it is usually not worthwhile for drivers who get stuck in traffic to change lanes from the left to the right and vice versa.