StVO Amendment: ÖAMTC Sounds the Alarm

With the 36th amendment of the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO), municipalities are to be given the opportunity to monitor driving bans and other traffic restrictions with cameras. This is intended to enable traffic calming in city centers, but according to the current state, it will lead to an increase in bans and penalties as well as a "rule chaos", according to the ÖAMTC at a press conference. In contrast, uniform legal framework conditions are needed.

Originally, the amendment only planned for camera surveillance of city center driving bans. "Now a framework is to be created that allows municipalities to monitor driving bans, but also pedestrian and bicycle paths, bus lanes, and pedestrian zones with cameras," said the mobility club's lawyer, Matthias Wolf, on Tuesday. The details and exceptions of the driving bans are determined by the responsible district authorities or the magistrate.

Cameras would then register all license plates entering such zones. If they are on an exception list, no penalty is issued, otherwise, it is automatically sent. The ÖAMTC does not fundamentally reject such a model: But the legislative amendment does not provide for uniform guidelines for camera surveillance. "This means that at the end of the day, we will have different regulations from municipality to municipality," said Wolf.

ÖAMTC Fears Increasing Confusion

In this context, the ÖAMTC fears growing confusion: In Vienna and Graz, more expensive fees for SUVs are already being discussed when parking, in the town center of Laa an der Thaya, only e-mopeds are allowed, and internationally, cities like Madrid and Barcelona prohibit the entry of combustion cars in certain areas. "In principle, different rule concepts are conceivable, but if everything comes at once, chaos is pre-programmed," said Bernhard Wiesinger, head of the ÖAMTC advocacy. It is also questionable whether bans and exceptions can be communicated clearly.

Additionally, the hurdles for imposing driving bans for municipalities are relatively low. Therefore, Wiesinger warned of a strong increase in driving bans. "There can also be non-traffic-related motives," he said. Possible examples include "election goodies" or competition with neighboring municipalities.

Additionally, the introduction of such driving bans could have social consequences: "This creates a privilege in the area of mobility for those who can already afford to live in the city center, such as in the first district of Vienna," Wiesinger continued. "As a mobility club, we do not want such a two-class mobility!"

A Look Abroad

In Italy, municipalities can already create and monitor traffic-calmed zones independently and according to their own rules with the "zona traffico limitato" (ZTL; Eng.: "traffic-calmed zone"), explained Michele Germeno, ÖAMTC trust lawyer in Italy. Over 130 municipalities have already introduced around 370 such zones. Due to a lack of transparency and high fines, they are a constant topic for Italian consumer protection organizations.

"The money generated from penalties remains in the municipality," said Germeno. In 2024, Milan thus collected a total of around 204 million euros, while the municipality of Bellagio on Lake Como, with its approximately 3,500 inhabitants, collected 966,000 euros.

Because they are inconsistently regulated and often only signposted in Italian, the regulations often lead to confusion among tourists. Each year, around 7,000 to 8,000 Austrians pay such a ZTL fine ranging from 83 to 332 euros, estimates the ÖAMTC based on the 300 consultations conducted annually on this topic.

(APA/Red)

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