VIDEO OF THE WEEK: See the moment that led to a 9-km traffic jam

Beware of reduced visibility, the Czech police cautioned drivers yesterday, after thick fog and careless driving led to four traffic accidents involving 14 vehicles and seven injured persons on the D1 highway, a press release says.

One accident that involved seven cars took place in front of the Klimkovice tunnel at kilometer 342 in the direction from Olomouc to Ostrava and on to Poland. The other two accidents both happened a few tens of meters away from the first one and involved four and three cars respectively.

The first accident happened before 7 a.m. and made the road impassable in the direction of Ostrava. Police officers closed the section of the D1 highway for the necessary time and diverted traffic, which led to the formation of traffic jams that were around 9 kilometers long. Normal traffic resumed around 11 a.m.

Traffic cameras show that the first accident happened as the driver of an Audi vehicle caused performed an unexpected maneuver, crossing from the right to the left lane, and then crashed into a Škoda Octavia. The Audi was then thrown against the truck, while the Octavia ended upside down on its roof. A Škoda Superb also crashed into the first vehicle and then hit an additional three cars, damaging them.

The Czech police note that, while the cause of the first accident was the Audi vehicle's incorrect driving in the traffic lanes, "the cause of the subsequent accident was the failure to adapt the driving speed to the road traffic situation."

Back in December, icy roads led to a collection of accidents on a stretch of the D6 highway in Czechia near Lubenec – between Prague and Karlovy Vary – that involved 14 vehicles and wounded 40 people, leaving five seriously injured. Around the same time, 11 accidents were recorded in Liberec and as many as 30 in South Moravia.