Snow and freezing rain caused slippery roads and several accidents in western Germany on Thursday.
On the A8 motorway near Pforzheim in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, three accidents occurred and three people were injured.
Several cars and trucks were involved, police said.
The A8 was completely closed for a time in the direction of Karlsruhe.
Elsewhere, two men were hurt when their car veered off the road in extremely slippery conditions near Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony, crashing into a tree.
The 21 and 22-year-old occupants were taken to hospital, according to police.
The German Weather Service had issued a slippery roads warning for the north and north-west of Germany.
Freezing rain and snow also made roads slippery in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Police stations reported several collisions due to black ice.
“The gritting services were out early in the city and on the motorways,” said a police spokesman in the city of Münster.
“Currently, the main roads are clear, but if the rain gets heavier, we also expect the roads to freeze over again.”
Road users were being warned to prepare for icy conditions in many places across Germany. The weather service said it could become especially slippery at higher altitudes. For the night, it forecast a “general danger of slippery roads.”
