The Austrian Federal Law Gazette of May 13, 2022 shows that the government can probably take tougher action against “wheelies, stoppies and other driving manoeuvres”: 10,000 euros fine and three days confiscation of the vehicle can be the result according to the new § 102 paragraph 3c . The law is part of an amendment to the country’s Motor Vehicle Act.

Misfires, donuts and burnouts prohibited

The amendment also prohibits misfiring, donuts, burnouts or even locking the wheels, e.g. B. to draw black stripes on the asphalt. The focus of the latest changes is the autotuning scene, but the new legal regulations are also applicable to motorcyclists.

Wheelie past the police

Absolutely disproportionate? Exaggerated? Might be. However, the new regulation is preceded by an example that was very present in the Austrian media and which could have contributed to the tightening: In May 2020, a motorcyclist overtook another vehicle – in a wheelie. What the motorcyclist apparently did not know: the vehicle he was overtaking was a civilian police vehicle. On top of that. The man was traveling at excessive speed within the local area (100 km/h instead of the permitted 60 km/h) and also drove over a solid line and a zebra crossing with his unicycle. The officers take the driver’s license from the motorcyclist.

But that’s still not enough. Appeal to the Administrative Court (VwGH) against a 12-month driver’s license suspension and retraining measures against the wheelie drivers. And he rejected the appeal. Among other things, on the grounds that the behavior of the driver “is in itself suitable for creating dangerous conditions (…) and which inevitably leads to the withdrawal of the driving license (…).” The Administrative Court referred, among other things, to a decision of September 2018 ( Ra 2017/02/0201). According to which “the full controllability of a motorcycle is only guaranteed if both wheels are in contact with the road, and that such a legislator-defined peculiarity of the motorcycle contradicts intentional driving only on the rear wheel. The mere possibility of taking the front wheel off the road while driving take off is not sufficient to regard this driving style according to the KFG 1967 as corresponding to the characteristics of the motor vehicle.” In addition, this was the second breach in 15 months. Because of a similar incident, the driver’s license was revoked for nine months.

Vehicle withdrawal and auction from 2023

The latest amendment to the Austrian Road Traffic Act (StVO) even provides for expropriations, which means that a practice from criminal law is adopted in the StVO. The authorities can therefore confiscate assets used to commit a criminal offence. Such vehicles can then be auctioned off. 70 percent of the proceeds are to flow directly into the road safety fund. The changes in the law are to be implemented in mid-2023.

According to our colleagues from 1000PS, the process should be structured in the following steps:

Step 1: In the case of increasing speed violations, they were temporarily confiscated on the spot by the police. Serious means exceeding the speed limit by more than 60 km/h in the built-up area or by more than 70 km/h outside of the built-up area. At the same time, the driving license will always be provisionally taken immediately in the future.

Step 2: The district administration authority then has two weeks to decide whether it is likely that the motorcycle will be expropriated. In this case, the forfeiture procedure will be initiated. As a basis, extreme transgressions and repeated offenses would be conceivable.

Option 1: Does that mean that someone who races through the town area twice in a row at 110 km/h has to say goodbye to his bike.

Option 2: The same applies if the speed limit is more than 80 km/h in built-up areas or 90 km/h outside of built-up areas. That would be the case, for example, if you were speeding down the autobahn at 220 km/h.

A Vehicle confiscation with subsequent auction is also possible in Germany. We reported 2019 from such a case.

Conclusion

For some, the new sentence might cause murmurs and astonishment, others will probably welcome it. It is clear that the focus is on the autotuning scene and that the new regulations should apply to extreme cases.