Traffic risks in Austria: Less accidents despite increasing traffic!

Traffic risks in Austria: Less accidents despite increasing traffic!

In the past 15 years, Austria has made significant progress in traffic safety. As the Gailtal Journal , over 100 measures to improve security were implemented on motorways. Despite an increasing volume of traffic since 2012, the accident statistics have had a gratifying decline. The number of traffic fatalities dropped from 64 in 2012 to 32 in 2024.

The ASFINAG board member Hartwig Hufnagl emphasizes in his balance sheet that the reduction in the number of accidents can be attributed primarily to infrastructure and safe driving behavior. Carelessness, distraction, non -adapted speed and fatigue are among the main causes of accidents.

investments in infrastructure and security measures

In order to further increase traffic safety, ASFINAG has invested around 5.8 billion euros in tunnel safety since 2001. Important projects include the expansion of the Tauern and Katschberg tunnel (A 10) and the security measures on the Klaus, Bosruck and Gleinalmt tunnels (A 9). In addition, structural middle separations were built on roads S 31 and S 37 to prevent frontal collisions.

The S 4 Mattersburg expressway is also being promoted. Technological innovations contribute to improving traffic safety, for example the acute system, which is used in over 30 tunnels for acoustic monitoring. Increasing dampers at junctions also help to absorb the impact energy in the event of an accident.

consciousness formation and information campaigns

Another look at traffic safety in Austria shows the figures from 2019, which were published in the traffic safety report of the KFV . 416 people lost their lives in road traffic this year, which increased the number of traffic fatalities by seven compared to 2018. In an EU-wide consideration, Austria takes the 12th place in the EU-27 ranking with 47 drafts per million inhabitants.

risk groups and causes of accidents

However, there are significant differences in the accident between different road users. The number of adolescents and seniors killed increased while the number of adults killed decreased. It is particularly striking that in 2019 the number of seriously injured cyclists was the highest, with a quarter of them being seniors. Nine e-bikes drove from the 31 killed cyclists.

Effective accident prevention also requires that all road users behave responsibly. According to the KFV report, the main causes of traffic accidents are "carelessness/distraction", priority injuries and non-adapted speeds. Nevertheless, surveys show that acceptance for 0.0 per thousand for beginners and other safety -relevant measures increasingly increases.

The continuous focus on improvement and security awareness is crucial to further expand the positive trends in traffic safety and to reduce the number of accidents and injuries.