As of: February 20, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Romina Kunze, Kilian Bäuml
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Austria wants to reduce the number of accidents and is taking drastic action against speeders from 2024.
In case of extreme violations, the car can be confiscated and auctioned.
Vienna – There is hardly a more controversial topic in Germany than driving, especially the debate about a general speed limit.
While supporters see this as a contribution to environmental protection and the safety of road users, critics see it as a pure prohibition strategy.
However, statistics show that excessive speed has been one of the main causes of serious accidents for years, not only in Germany but also throughout the EU.
Austria has now decided to take tough action against speeding.
The Brenner Motorway is a motorway that runs from Innsbruck in Austria (Brenner Autobahn, A 13) over the Brenner Pass to Modena in Italy (Autostrada A22).
© IMAGO/Manngold
Austria has set itself the ambitious goal of significantly reducing the number of traffic accidents by 2030.
As part of this plan, a number of mandatory measures have been introduced for 2024, including relevant assistance systems.
From March 1, 2024, Austria will no longer show tolerance for speeding and will tighten the rules.
Anyone who drives too fast and recklessly in Austria must expect severe penalties.
Stricter driving license rules are also planned in the EU.
Tougher penalties in Austria: Cars can be confiscated and auctioned
In addition to high fines and the revocation of your driving license, if you exceed the speed limit, the vehicle can be confiscated and then auctioned off.
Even a single violation of the speed limit threatens to be confiscated, as OE24 reports, among others.
The new change in the law provides for the following action against speeding:
Anyone who drives
in urban areas at 60 km/h over the permitted limit
risks having their vehicle confiscated.
The same applies to anyone who
drives
outside of town at 70 km/h faster than the permitted speed limit.
If the speed exceeds
80 km/h in urban areas
and
90 km/h in the country,
the car or motorcycle is also gone - although even a first offense is enough to permanently lose your vehicle.
Previously, drivers and motorcyclists had to surrender their driving license and pay a fine if they drove 40 km/h too fast in urban areas and more than 50 km/h too fast outside of urban areas.
As in Germany, in Austria you can drive at a maximum speed of 50 km/h in urban areas.
On Austrian motorways the speed limit is generally 130 km/h, and on some it is only 110 km/h.
Austria is drastically tightening penalties for speeders in cars - as early as March
According to OE24, if a vehicle is permanently confiscated due to particularly reckless and fast driving, it should be auctioned.
70 percent of the proceeds from the auction should benefit the traffic safety fund, the rest should go to the respective cities and municipalities.
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Critics of the new regulation complain that it may not capture many speeding violations.
This could be the case, for example, if the driver is driving a car that is not his own or if it is a rental or leasing vehicle.
Although these vehicles could be confiscated after the change in the law, they could not be auctioned.
In such cases, the change in the law provides for a lifelong driving ban for the respective vehicle, which should be recorded in the vehicle documents.
German cars can also be confiscated and auctioned in Austria
According to the ADAC, foreign tourists, including Germans, could also be affected by the new regulations in Austria and therefore have to fear for their vehicles in the event of serious violations.
The automobile club strongly advises German drivers to stick to speed limits and pay fines immediately.
Anyone who has ever driven on an Austrian motorway without the corresponding vignette should know this.
As a rule, a fine notice follows a few weeks later.
In order to reduce the number of traffic accidents, Austria had already tightened the rules for speeding in 2021, increased fines to up to 5,000 euros and expanded driving bans.
However, these deterrent measures do not appear to have had the desired effect.
A further tightening was therefore decided from March 2024.
Experts estimate that based on previous speeding violations, around 445 traffic offenders will be affected by the new rules every year.
Speeders in cars are punished more harshly in Austria: “great efforts” are made to make traffic safe
However, the number of traffic accidents has remained constant in recent years.
The Ministry of Transport counted a total of 396 traffic deaths in 2023.
Excessive speed was the second most common cause of fatal accidents at 25.6 percent, after carelessness at 27.3 percent.
Shortly before the turn of the year, two people died because a young novice driver lost control of his powerful Audi.
“Around 90 percent of all traffic accidents occur due to human errors and misconduct,” says David Nosé from the ÖAMTC.
“There is still a lot of effort needed to further improve road safety,” says Nosé on behalf of the automobile club, which fundamentally welcomes the measures taken by the green Ministry of Transport under Leonore Gewessler.
However, minor speeding should not be equated with reckless speeding.
In addition, the measures should be evidence-based based on precise accident analyses, according to the ÖAMTC.
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