Highway Near Simanovci: Truck Ends Up in Ditch After Crash

A truck and a passenger car collided yesterday, Monday, September 14, at around 11:40 a.m., on the A3 highway heading toward Sid, near the Simanovci exit. The truck was thrown into a ditch beside the road by the force of the impact.

The crash happened on the stretch of highway between the Dobanovci and Simanovci interchanges, just before the turnoff for Krnjesevci and Simanovci. That is where vehicles coming from Belgrade leave the highway, so traffic there typically slows down and drivers merge and pass one another.

The stretch belongs to the A3 highway, which Serbia’s public road operator, Putevi Srbije, lists in its statements under the designation IA number 3. The route connects Belgrade with the Batrovci border crossing and carries a significant share of the freight traffic heading on toward Croatia.

How many people were hurt? Sources disagree

Outlets that covered the crash do not agree on the number of people injured. Kurir, citing unofficial information, reports that two people from the passenger car were hurt, adding that the extent of their injuries was not known at the time the article was published.

B92, citing the Tanjug news agency, and the outlet 24sedam both report three people injured. None of the three sources names the injured, gives their gender or age, or says which medical facility, if any, treated them.

The cause of the collision has also not been disclosed. It is not known whether anyone involved in the crash was held at the scene for the on-site investigation, nor whether traffic police responded, even though that is standard procedure for accidents with injuries on a highway.

Traffic backed up toward Novi Beograd

The crash caused major congestion on one of the country’s busiest routes, since it also carries transit traffic toward the Batrovci border crossing. Putevi Srbije issued a statement on road conditions, saying that traffic on the IA number 3 stretch, between the Dobanovci and Simanovci interchanges, was moving slowly and only in the passing lane.

“Crews are on site. The public will be informed in due course once traffic returns to normal. We ask road users to adjust their speed to conditions on the road,” the company said in a statement carried by the agency.

Kurir, which described the traffic situation in more detail, reports that from the direction of Novi Beograd toward the Simanovci exit, traffic was practically at a standstill. Vehicles crawled forward in a long line while Putevi Srbije crews worked at the scene and called on drivers to adjust their speed to the road conditions.

What is known, and what is not

None of the three sources says at what time traffic on this stretch returned to normal, or how long the cleanup of the roadway took overall. It is likewise not yet known whether any proceedings have been opened against either the truck driver or the driver of the passenger car.

Whether the truck, which ended up in the ditch, stayed there until the on-site investigation was completed, or was removed in the meantime, has also not been disclosed. The photo from the scene shows the truck tilted in the ditch beside the road, with a line of vehicles waiting to pass the crash site visible in the background.

None of the three sources gives the make, model, or license plates of the vehicles involved in the collision, nor the number of passengers who were in the car at the time of the crash.

The editorial team will publish information on the injured parties’ condition, as well as any measures authorities take regarding those involved in the crash, as soon as it is officially confirmed.