Austrian police - On the spot fines - Fact or fiction?

buellzebub

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.....It was reported on here a year or two ago that if you had anything non-standard on your vehicle, especially Hid conversions, they Austrian police were dishing out on the spot fines.
However, I've never been so I don't know how true it is.
 
Going off topic a bit but it was reported on here a year or two ago that if you had anything non-standard on your vehicle, especially Hid conversions, they Austrian police were dishing out on the spot fines.
However, I've never been so I don't know how true it is.

If you play by the rules, IE don't speed in the villages then no prob's
make sure that you get your vignette if you want to use the motorways, but its not expensive (about 8euro for 10 days)

HTH
Neil

PS
I'll be down that way in early Sept
 
I, along with two friends, was stopped in Austria and given notice that I would be referred for possible a possible fine for having a non-standard, non-compliant exhaust.

About a month later fine landed on my mat at home. I paid it.
 
Depends were in Austria. I lived in southern Austria for just over 7 years. I ran a biker hotel so we had lots of experience of their interaction with local police. In Carinthia the police are mostly pro bikes, yes you will be stopped and fined if you speed in the towns or ride like a twat, but generally they are fairly laid back. We have personal experience that this is not the case in all of Austria. Police in the Tirol are far harder on bikes in particular and I have heard stories of people being fined for using HID lights. Where I lived you were extremely unlikely to be stopped by the police unless they caught you speeding so as long as your lights aren't obviously blinding to others I don't think you would have a problem.

For all the time I was in Austria my bike had an illegal exhaust in that I removed the cat. (fitting it back once a year for testing). As it was an Austrian registered bike a cat. is a legal requirement. On an 1150 GS the fact the cat. is missing is obvious but I never had a problem. Even in Carinthia they do have some standards about noisy exhaust though. Every year they pull a few Harleys at the annual Faak am See meeting. Those will be the ones with just a couple of inches of pipe sticking out from the heads!

The first thing you have to remember is that an Austrian Policeman (or woman) has far far more discretion as regards fines etc than our UK forces do. We had several cases of people "talking up" a speeding fine by arguing with the policemen. Austrian authorities, at all levels, are used to being obeyed and certainly not questioned. They react badly to such things and we have heard of fines being doubled or more in response to an argument. If you get stopped, switch the bike off, get off and remove your helmet. Be polite, even eat a bit of humble pie.

In my last summer there we only heard of one speeding fine in Carinthia over 25 Euros. Turns out that if you ignore a policeman waving you down and they send a car after you, you get fined 180 Euros!

Don't speed in the towns or ride like a twat (leave that to the locals!) make sure your lights don't cause others problems and you should be fine. Oh and just buy the Austrian motorway vignette, it's just over 5 Euros for ten days. Leaves your options open to just use an Autobahn when that makes sense (avoiding large towns for instance)

John
 
A few years ago friends were stopped in Austria purely for having non standard lights, not involving speeding or riding like a twat. They were told to convert back to original or if stopped again they would face a heavy fine. Had it done by a BMW technician in Austria. So in answer to your question I guess the answer is very clear yes, it is possible and is not fiction.
 
Fact

They took 60 Austrian schillings off me in 1997 for speeding and having no documents, near St Johann in Tirol

A mate got fined the following year for speeding too, near Schladming
 
I guess it's all a matter of luck.

I've ridden quite a bit in Austria on a Stelio with HID lights and never been stopped. Maybe the lights weren't bright enough, so maybe they never saw me coming!
 
A few years ago friends were stopped in Austria purely for having non standard lights, not involving speeding or riding like a twat. They were told to convert back to original or if stopped again they would face a heavy fine. Had it done by a BMW technician in Austria. So in answer to your question I guess the answer is very clear yes, it is possible and is not fiction.

If you actually read what wrote you will see I acknowledge that such things happen. I wonder how they knew to stop your friends? We had one had a group staying where one member had HIDs fitted, none of the rest of the group would ride directly in front of him because of the dazzle caused by these lights even in daylight. . I would say that if your friends, or anybody else's, lights do this then they should be stopped. They are a menace.

I stand by my personal experience of living in Austria. Attitudes vary, in the Tirol they are know to be strict (confirmed by several of our Austrian neighbours)on all sorts of things, in Carinthia they take a different approach. Austria, like most countries, has regional variations. The further you get from the Swiss border the more laid back they get, especially in the south.

But if your lights badly dazzle others expect to be stopped anywhere, I for one, would have little sympathy. Same goes for speeding in towns or riding like a twat on the open road. Sort your lights, ride sensibly, by which I mean without your skills envelope-for some that might be quite briskly!, and enjoy the fabulous roads and scenery. Go south if you can, the roads and scenery are just as good but the traffic (and police presence) is so much lighter.

John
 
I, along with two friends, was stopped in Austria and given notice that I would be referred for possible a possible fine for having a non-standard, non-compliant exhaust.

About a month later fine landed on my mat at home. I paid it.

Can the Austrians enforce the fine in the UK ? Or were you planning on going back again ?
 
Can the Austrians enforce the fine in the UK ? Or were you planning on going back again ?

Planning on going back and more than once. I did not / do not fancy debating an outstanding fine next time I'm (maybe) stopped.
 
I got stopped there the year before last.............. He and his mates flagged me down, but I was going so fast it took me ages to stop:blast so he had to run up to me,as he did I could see him losing interest as he realised It was a UK bike.He asked me to slow down and just told me to go......:thumb result.
 
They're quite keen with the on the spot fines: They pulled me out of a line of traffic for speeding. I pointed out to them that they had neither pulled the car in front or behind with Austrian registration numbers and asked if it was some kind of tourist tax, where they seemed to lose interest in and pulled another motorcycle in.
I just rode away.

:nenau
 
I wonder what you think of foreigners not paying UK fines?

John

Hi

This post must be a joker. Are you seriously going to pay a fine if you don't have too? Similar to Phillip Green paying tax he is not obliged to pay, me thinks.

Derek
 
Hi

This post must be a joker. Are you seriously going to pay a fine if you don't have too? Similar to Phillip Green paying tax he is not obliged to pay, me thinks.

Derek

I take great exception to being compared to the excuse for a human being that is Philip Green.

Define don't have to. Do you mean that you think the fine is not valid? Or do you mean that you think that getting away with it is the right thing to do. We all, I would hope, try to live by a code of ethics. Clearly yours are very different from mine.

John
 
Planning on going back and more than once. I did not / do not fancy debating an outstanding fine next time I'm (maybe) stopped.

Hi

This post must be a joker. Are you seriously going to pay a fine if you don't have too? Similar to Phillip Green paying tax he is not obliged to pay, me thinks.

Derek

Yoo iz a bikermate 'ero mate
 
I wonder what you think of foreigners not paying UK fines?

John

Well if a UK car was caught on a gatso camera here in Ireland it would not be followed up at all. I think the concept of "Pick the fight you can win" works here. However if you are in a foreign plated car speeding (serious speed) and are caught by a cop (radar etc) then you will be arrested and brought before a judge.
 


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