Safe Speed Forums

Austria ups speed limit

Vienna - A higher speed limit of 160km per hour - 30km/h higher than the current limit - will be introduced on a section of Austrian motorway despite strong protests from road safety experts and environmentalists, officials said on Thursday.

Transport and infrastructure minister Hubert Gorbach is to give the go-ahead for an initial test section - as yet unnamed - in the spring of 2006, said ministry project leader Hartwig Hufnagl.

At present, all Austrian motorways have a speed limit of 130km/h. According to the newspaper Die Presse, the only country where it is legal to drive faster than 130km/h hour is Germany, where no speed limit exists on many sections of its Autobahn or superhighway network.

'A step backwards in road safety'

As well as in Austria, the speed limit is 130km/h in such countries as France, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. A limit of 120km/h is in force in the Benelux states, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.

The lowest limit was in Norway and Turkey, where drivers were only allowed to go 90km/h.

The Austrian statement said the test sector would be carefully selected for its good road surface and few curves or gradients. The 160km/h speed limit would be displayed on electronic boards, which would display a lower speed limit in bad weather.

The Traffic Club of Austria (VCOE) warned earlier this year of a step backwards in road safety. It said 40% of all fatal accidents since the beginning of 2005 had been caused by drivers exceeding speed limits.

The opposition Greens said an inquiry commissioned by them showed that if the limit were raised to 160km/h, there would be at least 50 more accidents per year resulting in at least five deaths and 120 people injured.

Sounds like a very sensible idea to do it on a trial basis - perhaps we should try it on the M6Toll

perhaps we should try it on the M6Toll

The Traffic Club of Austria (VCOE) warned earlier this year of a step backwards in road safety. It said 40% of all fatal accidents since the beginning of 2005 had been caused by drivers exceeding speed limits.

The opposition Greens said an inquiry commissioned by them showed that if the limit were raised to 160km/h, there would be at least 50 more accidents per year resulting in at least five deaths and 120 people injured.

I don't know what sort of standard the Austrian motorways are built to, but 100 mph does seem a bit high for the speed limit; I can see it encouraging inexperienced drivers to drive faster than perhaps they should.