Compliance with speed limits enhances road safety and improves the quality of life for communities. This can be achieved through effective enforcement, together with smart road design and construction measures.

VCÖ-Factsheet "Effective speed limits: boosting safety in built-up areas" PDF-Download

In 2022, 72 per cent of the 1.5 million cars monitored in 30km/h zones in built-up areas in Austria were found to exceed the speed limit. A total of 23 million speed measurements were taken.¹ On sections of rural roads with a speed limit of 100km/h, one in ten cars was speeding.² But speed limits are not there to inconvenience – they are there to save lives.³ Reducing speed is also one of the most effective measures for achieving Austria’s climate targets for transport.⁴ For speed limits to be effective, they must also be adhered to.

Implementing and keeping speed limits

The Austrian road traffic regulations set a maximum speed limit of 50km/h in built-up areas, 100km/h on rural roads and 130km/h on motorways.⁵ Lower speed limits may be introduced for road safety, air quality and noise reasons. From July 2024, it has been easier to impose a 30km/h speed limit in built-up areas where there is a particular need for protection, such as near schools.⁶ To ensure that speed limits are observed, it is important to have both enforcement and appropriate road design in place.  

There is a culture of speeding on Austrian roads. In a representative survey, 71 per cent of respondents said they had exceeded the speed limit in a built-up area in the last 30 days. This compares to an average of 56 per cent of drivers in Europe, 65 per cent in Germany and 51 per cent in Switzerland who break the speed limit.⁷

Speeding is not a trivial matter

In Austria, ten per cent of respondents think it is acceptable to drive faster than the speed limit in built-up areas, and as many as 22 per cent consider this acceptable outside built-up areas.⁸ Austria has the highest acceptability rate of this attitude among the 20 countries surveyed. Across Europe, only five per cent of respondents consider speeding acceptable in built-up areas and eleven per cent outside built-up areas.⁹

Austria’s accident statistics show that speed limits are justified and that ignoring them is dangerous: Over the past three years, excessive speed has been the third most common cause of accidents and the second most common cause of road fatalities.¹⁰ Outside built-up areas, one in four accidents is caused by speeding, which corresponds to more than 2,900 accidents in 2023.¹¹

Children are particularly vulnerable

Children are not able to judge speed, distance and sounds as well as adults until they are about eleven years old.¹² Children are therefore particularly at risk in a transport system that takes far too little account of their special needs. Between 2018 and 2023, around half of the children aged six to nine involved in traffic accidents in built-up areas were walking or cycling.¹³

In areas with high traffic volumes, only one in five children has parental permission to play in public places without supervision. In such busy areas, children spend around a third less time outdoors unsupervised than in traffic-calmed and pedestrian zones. This is due to safety concerns about too many cars and lorries and the excessive speed of car traffic.¹⁴

Improving road safety

Limiting the speed of vehicles makes roads safer. Firstly, it reduces the risk of accidents: At 30km/h instead of 50km/h, the stopping distance (thinking distance plus braking distance) with an average reaction time and a dry road is reduced from 24 to 11 metres.¹⁵ A car travelling at 100km/h still has a speed of 68km/h after 55 metres; at 80km/h, it can stop after 55 metres. Secondly, limited speed reduces the likelihood of serious accidents: If a person is hit by a car travelling at 50km/h, the risk of fatal injury is four to five times higher than at 30km/h.¹⁶

In 2018, France lowered the speed limit on rural roads without separated lanes from 90 to 80km/h. As a result, the number of road deaths fell by ten per cent.¹⁷ After the speed limit was restored to 90km/h in some districts, the accident figures showed a diverging trend: in districts with a speed limit of 80km/h, the number of fatalities on rural roads was 2 per cent lower in 2022 than in 2019, while in districts with a speed limit of 90km/h, the number of fatalities was 1 per cent higher.¹⁸

Health effects of reduced speed

The human ear perceives a reduction in speed from 50km/h to 30km/h and from 100km/h to 80km/h as a halving of traffic.¹⁹ When the legal noise limit is exceeded in Zurich, the city reduces the speed limit from 50 to 30km/h. As a result, daytime noise levels have dropped by an average of 1.6 decibels and sleep disturbance in the city has been significantly reduced.²⁰ In Lucerne, noise levels fell by 2.2 decibels following the widespread introduction of a 30 km/h speed limit.²¹ This is perceived as a reduction in traffic volume by around 40 per cent.²² Lower speeds and the resulting improved road safety encourage sustainable modes of transport such as walking and cycling, which in turn improves local air quality factors such as particulate matter.

Road design has a significant impact on speed

Driving speed is influenced not only by legal speed limits and their enforcement, but also by the design of the roads. Wider roads encourage faster driving. If lanes are not wider than necessary and not perfectly straight, drivers automatically adjust their speed. Narrower streets also allow for more public space. Green spaces, footpaths and pedestrian crossings also help to reduce speed.²³ Such design principles were already adopted in the Netherlands in the 1990s, leading to a significant reduction in the number of cyclists and pedestrians killed in accidents.²⁴

Speed limits for safer cycling

30km/h zones make roads safer for cyclists. On roads where vehicles travel at higher speeds, physically separated cycle lanes are required.²⁵ Introducing 30km/h speed limits is therefore the quicker and cheaper option for cities and municipalities to make cycling more attractive.²⁶ Particularly on narrow roads where there is little space for dedicated cycle lanes, a slower speed will provide sufficient safety – as long as the speed limit is kept.

Compliance needs tougher enforcement

Despite the high frequency of speed checks, Austria lags significantly, behind other European countries in terms of speed limit compliance.¹⁶ In 2023, more than six million speeding fines were issued.²⁷ The level of penalties for speeding in Austria is very low by international standards.²⁸ It also takes a great deal of effort for law enforcement to take account of repeated offences when sentencing. In addition to an administrative fine, more serious speeding offences may result in having the licence suspended as a precautionary measure.²⁹ Since March 2024, it has been possible to seize and subsequently auction off motor vehicles for exceeding the speed limit by more than 80km/h in built-up areas or by more than 90km/h outside built-up areas.³⁰

Harmonising the scope of discretion

According to a survey, exceeding a speed limit of 50km/h is punished from 56km/h in Switzerland and 59km/h in Germany. In Austria, by contrast, some federal provinces only impose a penalty if the vehicle is travelling at 66km/h or more.31 This discretionary power of the authorities should be reduced and harmonised throughout Austria. Speed limits are maximum speeds designed to improve safety and are not just recommendations. Adjusting discretionary powers and increasing resources for speed limit enforcement would have a significant impact, with the average speed on 30km/h roads falling by 33 per cent.³¹

Safety through speed limit enforcement

The main factors influencing speed in road traffic are the design of the road environment, the weather, the volume of traffic and the legal speed limits. The focus should be on speed limits and road design. Measures and sanctions such as fines and the suspension of the driving licence are proving effective. The fair distribution of road space also helps to lower driving speeds. The effects of speed limits, such as increased safety and more liveable streets, will come automatically.

A culture of safety instead of speeding

The effects of lower speeds only become apparent when speed limits are adhered to. Effective enforcement is needed to improve safety and reduce noise and pollution. The amendment to the Austrian road traffic regulations has made enforcement easier for small municipalities. The culture of speeding in Austria can be changed. For the safety of children in particular, there must be greater awareness of the need for compliance with speed limits. It is necessary to limit discretionary powers and to design roads that encourage drivers to adhere to the speed limits.

Katharina Jaschinsky, VCÖ - Mobility with a future:

„Lower speed limits calm traffic and improve safety. To be effective, however, these speed limits must be adhered to. This is achieved not only through enforcement, but also through design and construction measures.“

VCÖ-Factsheet "Effective speed limits: boosting safety in built-up areas" PDF-Download

Content research: Paul Pfaffenbichler, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Transport Studies.

VCÖ is responsible for the content and editing of the VCÖ factsheet. The content does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the supporting institutions. This factsheet was financed by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology and supported by the federal provinces of Upper Austria, Styria and Tyrol

klimaaktiv mobil advises and supports relevant stakeholders, decision-makers and investors in the development and implementation of climate-friendly measures in the transport sector. Info: klimaaktivmobil.at