Incidents of drivers entering the opposite lane — either deliberately to overtake or by mistake — are rising across Greece’s major motorways, triggering widespread alarm. These are not isolated cases on minor rural roads, but dangerous maneuvers occurring on high-speed national highways, including the BOAK in Crete and the Egnatia Odos near the Evros border.
Near-misses on the Egnatia Odos
In the late afternoon of Thursday, 9 July 2026, a harrowing scene unfolded on the Egnatia Odos, along the eastbound carriageway toward the Kipoi border crossing. A truck driver encountered three passenger cars travelling in the wrong direction — head-on, at speed — creating an extreme risk of catastrophic collision. The incident was captured on the dashboard camera mounted on the truck’s windshield. Footage shows the three vehicles moving steadily against traffic, endangering not only the truck driver but all other road users.
Dangerous overtaking on video
Another user-submitted video shows a car ignoring the double solid line to overtake a concrete mixer, forcing oncoming drivers into sudden evasive action. The footage captures the sheer shock of motorists who suddenly find a vehicle hurtling toward them in their own lane.
Similar incident on the BOAK
A comparable near-collision was recorded hours earlier on the BOAK (Crete Motorway), where a silver passenger car crossed the double center line to overtake — narrowly avoiding a crash with a van. The clip quickly went viral online.
Questions over road design and signage
While some incidents appear to stem from reckless driver choices — often to avoid delays behind heavy vehicles — the scale and recurrence of such events, especially on complex interchanges and motorway sections like those near Evros, have raised serious questions. Experts and road safety advocates are now asking whether current road markings and signage — particularly at roundabouts and high-speed junctions — are sufficiently clear, visible, and deterrent enough to prevent these life-threatening errors.