VCÖ warns

22 fatalities on the roads of Carinthia this year

The deceased are commemorated these days. Traffic accidents are particularly bad. This year, 22 people lost their lives on Carinthia's roads, including eight motorcyclists. The number of serious accidents has been reduced with strict road safety measures, but the death toll is still too high.

Road accidents take people's lives suddenly. Accidental deaths are particularly devastating for relatives. This year, 22 people have already died in road accidents in Carinthia. Although this is five fewer than at the same time last year, it is one more fatality than in the whole of 2022, according to the mobility organization VCÖ. The largest group of victims were motorcyclists with eight fatalities, the second largest - with six fatalities - were car occupants and the third largest were e-bike riders with four.

1174 people killed in 25 years
In the past 25 years, 1174 people have lost their lives in road accidents in Carinthia. The death toll is still too high. In addition, many people are seriously injured and many suffer from the consequences of accidents for the rest of their lives.

"Speed, and therefore the speed limit, has a key influence on the number and severity of road accidents. Especially on the particularly dangerous open roads, 80 km/h should be the rule and 100 km/h the exception where it is permissible from a road safety perspective," says the VCÖ. "In urban areas, 30 km/h instead of 50 km/h and traffic calming are essential for the safety of pedestrians in general and for children and older people in particular."

Distraction and carelessness 
Another key factor in road safety is attentiveness. Together with speed, distraction and inattention are the main causes of serious road accidents. This is why in most EU member states, cell phone driving is a criminal offense in the registration system, but not in Austria. "The next government should change this in the interests of road safety. Anyone talking on a cell phone while driving reacts as slowly as a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.8 and is around five times more likely to have an accident. When reading and writing messages, the accident risk is even more than 20 times higher," explains VCÖ expert Katharina Jaschinsky

Structurally separated cycle paths are particularly important for the safety of cyclists in areas where motor vehicles are allowed to drive faster than 30 km/h. More train and bus connections also make a significant contribution to reducing traffic accidents. Trains and buses are many times safer than cars or mopeds. This is another reason why it is important that there is a good public transport service for the population both in conurbations and in the regions.

"The development over the past 25 years shows how effective increased road safety measures are. In 1999, 75 people were still killed on the roads in Carinthia; last year, the figure was 72 percent lower at 21," the VCÖ reports.