A 76-year-old was critically injured in a head-on collision between two cars on federal highway 22 in Upper Palatinate on Thursday. The suspected cause of the accident, a 40-year-old, suffered serious injuries, the police said. In the early evening he wanted to overtake several cars and a semitrailer near the village of Frodersreuth (Tirschenreuth district). For reasons that are still unclear, he overlooked the 76-year-old's car in oncoming traffic.

At the level of the overtaken semitrailer, the two cars then collided head-on and were thrown into the ditch. The 76-year-old woman was rescued from her vehicle "by exemplary first responders" and given first aid, it said. She was taken to a hospital - as was the 40-year-old. Both cars were totaled.