Chaos erupted on the BOAK highway on Wednesday morning following two consecutive multi-vehicle pileups involving a total of seven vehicles — six cars and one motorcycle — on the Chania–Kissamos national road, near Platanias. Despite the scale of the incidents, no injuries were reported.
Crete: Second crash on the opposite lane involves three more cars and a motorcycle
Although police have yet to establish a clear picture of exactly what happened, it appears that the first incident involved three cars colliding in the Kissamos-bound lane, at a lane-narrowing point where two lanes merge into one, marked by bollards. Almost simultaneously — whether out of curiosity or distraction — an identical collision occurred in the opposite lane, this time involving another three cars and a motorcycle. Several of the vehicles involved were rental cars, and all sustained minor to significant material damage.
Major traffic jam on the national road
The back-to-back crashes triggered massive gridlock on the national road, with traffic queues stretching for kilometers — made worse by the fact that congestion and roadworks had already been slowing traffic since early morning.
In a place where hardship is dressed up as “development,” it’s hardly surprising that so-called “road safety interventions” translate into daily accidents and pile-ups. At the very least, let’s hope they remain free of casualties.
