More deaths from priority violations

Last year, 73 people died in traffic accidents on Austria’s roads due to priority violations – according to the Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV), a sad record number that is also well above the ten-year average of 55 deaths. Priority violations are the second most common cause of traffic accidents involving personal injury. This is in contrast to the perception of the population, which estimated this cause to be twelfth in a representative survey by the KFV.

According to the preliminary results, 27 car occupants, eleven pedestrians, eleven e-bike drivers, nine motorcycle users, six moped users and three bicycle users were among the casualties. The rest are e-scooter, microrcar and light motorcycle users.

According to the KFV, the proportion of pedestrians among those killed was unusually high. Motorcyclists are the second most affected on a five-year average with 27 percent, although according to KFV data they only cause around one percent of priority violation accidents. The vast majority of those injured (78 percent) and killed (60 percent) were not the main cause of the accident.

Due to this development, the KFV calls for uncomplicated legal regulations so that pedestrians, cyclists and people without a driving license who participate in traffic can also understand priority rules more easily.