The Austrian motorway vignette system

Was he caught red-handed in Austria, or did he subsequently get a letter back home (in Germany, I presume)

seeing as I know the guy too, to answer the various questions:

• He's been here under six months
  
• German registered car
  
• Received a letter in the post to current address in Germany
  
• Tried phoning, they're not interested in the "didn't know about it" excuse
  

Letter also offers a 1day, 8 hour jail sentence as an option...

Ben is that "one day, i.e. 8 hours" or "one day plus 8 hours"?

I think it was 'plus' but I'm not sure.

Hell, if there will be no record afterwords.. Why not go chill in a cell watch a bit of TV and have lunch, all paid for by the AT Govt..
Even better if they allow your SO to come for conjugal visits, like in Germany...

Here's my take on the system. I understand that you need a reasonable fine to deter people from trying to evade the tax. Maybe 400 Euro for not having a ticket which costs 70 Euro / year is reasonable in this context, or maybe it is hiked up cos it brings in valuable money for the austrians, I don't know.

Thing is, of course, it isn't particularly reasonable if you were unaware of the whole thing (or if you mis-understood the expiry date like somebody earlier in this thread did). The signs say "Toll Sticker" in english, but do they inform you *in english* about how and where to obtain one? Or could you be forgiven for thinking that some Toll station is coming up where you will have to buy one? Most of us know the system either cos we worked it out for ourselves, heard about it from friends, or read about it here or in some guide book, but I bet there is a fair number each month who get the fine without knowingly having tried to escape the tax.

In the case of the guy in question whom I also know - he recently received the fine after stopping at an austrian rest-stop more than two months ago. He's been down to Italy several times since, with an extra 4 stops at rest stops in austria, so in theory he could be looking at a compounded fine of 2000 Euros. Surely you must have lived a good while in Germany to think that is a reasonable fine for doing something stupid?

Firstly, ignorance of the law is no a defence.

Given the road signs, the fact that the story is reguarly in the local papers, is common knowledge to just about everyone locally in Munich and is publicised on 101 tables and websites about driving in Europe then someone claiming they were unaware is on very thin ice.

Are the fines very high compared to the cost of the pickerl itself?

YES, deliberately so.

If the fine was say 100 Euros per offence then with the traffic and the what, 90 minute drive from Kiefersfelden to Brenner a lot of German motorists would take the risk cos it would pay for itself. But at EUR 400 they think twice and buy a pickerl.

Maybe the guy who drve 4 times to Italy will avoid a fine for the other transgressions. I hope so.

But wait till the Austrians learn off London and the RFID technology. Put a chip in the pickerl and sling a few number plate recognising cameras over the Autobahn at Kufstein and their computers can then spit out soon to be EU wide enforceable fines for every offence!

First if you don't know any german let alone any locals, most of the above is pretty unhelpful. Though you're right that viamichelin.com would tell you. My point is still that it does happen that people do this unintentionally, and in that respect the fine is clearly on the stiff side. So the system works fine for most people but it is an unreasonable fine for true ignorance. I think it fits with the german geist though - as long as you behave as you should and are as informed as you should be, you have nothing to be worried about...
If you're talking about the congestion charging - I would argue that you need to be a little more ignorant to make it into central London without noticing the CC signs. If the austrian tax sticker was as well marked (in an international language - i.e. English) there wouldn't be a problem.

The AA and RAC sites and guides mention it too as does any guide book to Austria which you'd surely look at if you were so new you didn't know any locals or German.

Driving into Central London you see the "C" sign, driving into Austria you see the Vignette Symbol with afaik, "toll obligtory" which is in errrrrrm English. It's not a "german Geist" to have a igh toll, its to screw the Germans which Austrian coppers luv doing.

If you weren't going to Austria - merely passing through? Probably - not surely.
We can keep this little argument going all day - but my point is simply that it [it] does [/it] happen that people actually are ignorant about it, and that 400 Euro is excessive unless a person knew about it and decided to risk it. The fine in London is 100 pounds, which is reduced to 50 pounds upon prompt payment. A little more reasonable don't you think?

If you think 400 Euro is ok - then how about 2000 Euro? Is that ok too? If you extrapolate this in the extreme - I remember a Star-trek episode where they visited a planet which had the death penalty for even the slightest misdemeanors. Worked fine since everybody knew about it. Except for the "tourists"

If the Austrians were interested in a fairer system couldn't they simply put up toll-booths (with chip-lanes so the regulars wouldn't have to queue) which would eliminate any such incidents. I reckon they're raking it in and see no reason to change their ways...

The perfect business case, and probably why the Austrians are considered the "Scots" of central Europe. Ignorance is no excuse. Thank heavens someone at least tells the Brits which side of the road to drive on in Europe...

Toll booths cost more than a vignette system to administer. The issue of transit and costs of traffic is so important to Austrians that they arranged a special proviso when they joined the EU that they were allowed to introduce tolls for their motorways.

I luv it when motorists from germany get their knickers in a twist over the pickerl and the highway police in Austria and then the local press starts fothing at the mouth. it's one of the TZ / AZ stock in trade stories that comes up at least once or twice a year.

Lets not start on the Scots now , we are miserable bastards I agree , but putting us on a par with the Alpine Nazis is not going going to get you any free beer from me.

I was pulled off the road for by a copper in Austria so he could check my vignette sticker. He was extremely confused when I spoke to him in English (I have German plates) and then even more confused when my wife showed him her German passport. He told me the reason (in English) and said it was ok to which I replied "I know" in German. He wasnt very happy but couldnt fine me!!

At the beginning of last year you could put the sticker in 3 different positions on the windscreen but they changed it on the last vignette to only accepting 2 positions on the windscreen. Guess what...yep, the Austrian coppers were then pulling people and fining them for putting it in last years "3rd" position which is no longer "approved".

Brilliant!!! (to collect extra money that is)

So what are the two allowed "vignette" positions please? Are there allowed permissions on motorbikes?