Survival Guide - Austria - page 824

Alcohol The penalty for drink-driving - driving with over 0.05% blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) - is a hefty on-
the-spot fine and confiscation of your licence.
Children Those under the age of 14 who are shorter than 1.5m must have a special seat or restraint.
Fines Can be paid on the spot, but ask for a receipt.
Giving way Give way to the right at all times except when a priority road sign indicates otherwise or one street has a
raised border running across it (the vehicle entering from such a street must give way). Note: the give way to the right
rule also applies at T-junctions.
Helmets Compulsory for motorcyclists and their passengers as well as for children under 13 years on bicycles.
Parking Most town centres have a designated Kurzparkzone (short-term parking zone), where on-street parking is lim-
ited to a maximum of 1½ or three hours (depending upon the place) between certain specified times. Parkschein (park-
ing vouchers) for such zones can be purchased from Tabak shops or pavement dispensers and then displayed on the
windscreen. Outside the specified time, parking in the Kurzparkzone is free.
Seat belts Compulsory.
Speed limits Fifty kilometres per hour in built-up areas, 130km/h on autobahns and 100km/h on other roads. In some
places, the speed on country roads is restricted to 70km/h.
Speed limits at night Except for the A1 between Vienna and Salzburg and the A2 between Vienna and Villach, the
speed limit on autobahns from 10pm to 5am is 110km/h.
Trams These always have priority. Vehicles should wait behind while trams slow down and stop for passengers.
Local Transport
Austria's local transport infrastructure is excellent, inexpensive and safe.
Buses and trams Bus services operate in most cities and are complemented by a few night bus lines. Tram and bus
services in most places run from about 5am to 11pm or midnight. You usually need to press the stop button, often even
in trams.
Metro In Vienna, the metro runs all night on Friday and Saturday nights. From Sunday night to Thursday night it stops
around midnight or 12.30am. No other towns have metro systems.
Taxis Austrians mostly call ahead or use taxi ranks. Flagging down a taxi usually works, though. Drivers expect a 10%
tip.
Tickets
Ticketing systems and prices vary from region to region. Often they're sold from machines at stops. In Graz you buy
them on machines in trams, in Salzburg you can buy them from the driver. Universally, tickets are cheaper from any
Tabak shop, also known as a Trafik . Passes for single trips, 24 hours and several days or a week are usually available.
Fines are stiff if you don't have a ticket - about €60 to €100 is common, and controls are frequent, especially in the
provincial capitals.