Austria 1993 Cycling Trip

A Friends Experience in Austria

I had a lot of fun cycling thru Austria. Recently (summer 2002) a friend of mine had the shock of his life in Austria. The AAA travel guides said that stickers were required on Toll roads. However, it did not say that stickers were required on "normal" roads. So, my friend crossed the border into Austria and paid the toll for the tunnel that lead to a "normal" road. Right after the tunnel the police were pulling over every 4th or 5th car and giving them 120 Euro tickets for not having stickers on their cars!

Needless to say, my friend had his pasport taken by a machine gun toting policeman who then required him to pay the fine in the Police van before he could leave. My friend certainly did leave - he left Austria right then and there and spent the rest of his time anywhere but Austria.

An Austrian has emailed me stating:


This sticker is only needed on the Highways/Freeways ("Autobahn" here in
Austria). Your friend ... hasn't read the signs which are placed at the
borders. (Big Red Signs 4 meters high / 2 meters width).

....

But normally the police in border-areas are very friendly and if you explain
them the mistake of not (knowing) buying the sticker (the sticker costs 5
Euro / Dollars for 10 Days) they give you a warning , but not a 120 Euro
ticket.

My only conclusion is that the police were doing exactly what the police over here do - selective, strict, enforcement of laws to collect revenue.

My 1993 Cycling Trip

On this trip we found it very strange that the roads were always in the valleys. Why became very clear in Switzerland and northern France. It's very hard to take roads over mountains to get to the next valley. So the roads follow the rivers and valleys until a sufficiently low mountain pass can be found - that or a tunnel made thru the mountain.

Walchsee

Erpfendorf

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