Numbers on the rise

More than 6 million speeders caught in Austria in 2023

More and more frequently, officers are also catching drivers under the influence of drugs and complaining about a lack of child restraints.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

There are more and more speeders on Austria's roads: in 2023, the traffic police reported more than six million speeding violations or punished them as an administrative penalty order and carried out almost 1.9 million alcohol tests. Officers are also catching drivers under the influence of drugs more and more frequently and complaining about a lack of child restraints in the car.

Around 5.3 million of the 6,160,271 speeding violations in the previous year were measured by speed cameras. A further 580,000 drivers were tested with laser measuring devices. Around 270,000 men and women were caught by plainclothes patrols, section control systems or other types of monitoring. According to the Ministry of the Interior, this represents a new annual high and an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the previous year. In 2022, 6,120,825 infringements were recorded.

Speeding drivers can have their cars confiscated
Since March 1, the 34th amendment to the Road Traffic Act (StVO) means that the cars of extreme speeders can now be confiscated on the spot and subsequently auctioned off. The package of measures introduced by the Ministry of Transport and Climate Protection is aimed at serious offenses and speeding in excess of 60 km/h in urban areas and 70 km/h outside urban areas.

Drinking and driving: increase of 7.2 percent
In the previous year, a total of 1,895,748 alcohol checks were carried out by the Federal Police - including breathalyzer tests, alcohol tests and medical examinations. There was also an increase of 7.2 percent in this area (2022: 1,768,730). However, the number of reports of drink-driving fell from 32,875 in 2022 to 30,683 in the previous year. That is a decrease of 6.7 percent.

8676 drivers were also reported for driving under the influence of drugs in the previous year. This corresponds to a further increase of 15.7 percent. In 2022, the figure was 7499.

A drastic increase was reported in complaints due to a lack of child restraint: 7979 reports, which also resulted in an entry in the registration system, are 13.8 percent more than in 2022. The figures show that awareness needs to be raised among drivers.