Especially soccer fans

European comparison: How well are the Austrians doing?

The Austrians are hoping to progress in the European Football Championship. Among Europe's drivers, they already see themselves in the top group. While the footballers are competing directly against each other, a recent study asked drivers to rate themselves.

In a Europe-wide study - commissioned by parking technology provider EasyPark on the occasion of the European Football Championship - 94 percent of Austrian soccer fans describe themselves as good drivers, 44 percent of them as very good. This puts them well ahead of France, one of the EURO favorites, with 91 percent. Only Spanish and Italian drivers are more self-confident than Austrian drivers. 43 percent of Spaniards even describe themselves as "extremely good drivers". This figure is 30 percent in Austria.

Given this extremely self-confident view of themselves, it is hardly surprising that only just under six percent of those surveyed said they were average drivers. Just 0.2 percent of Austrian soccer fans rate their skills as poor.

When it comes to parking in particular, Austrians apparently have hardly any problems: "Nine out of ten respondents consider themselves to be good parkers, only the Spanish and Portuguese rate their skills even higher," says Markus Heingärtner, Country Director of EasyPark Austria.

Austrians particularly like to drive too fast
However, the superficially rosy picture begins to change as soon as you take a closer look at the detailed results. Despite the high opinion that football-loving drivers have of their abilities across Europe, only half (54%) say they behave courteously on the roads.

A third do not regularly use their indicators and do not pay attention to traffic signs. A quarter of respondents have already been fined once or several times for speeding, while 20 percent have received one or more parking tickets. Austrian respondents are particularly prone to speeding: one in two have already been caught speeding. This is the highest figure in Europe, far ahead of Spain (twelve percent) or Italy (ten percent). 28 percent of Austrian drivers have been fined for parking illegally. This figure is also well above the European average of 20 percent - even though 88 percent of red-white-red soccer fans rate their parking skills as at least good.

The study was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of EasyPark. In May 2024, 11,000 adults aged 18 and over with a driving license who say they are soccer fans were surveyed. The survey was conducted in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, France and Austria. In Austria, 1000 people were surveyed. The EasyPark app is designed to make parking easier and is available in around 120 municipalities in Austria, as well as in all neighboring countries and in a total of 20 European countries.