Up to 100 cars in Austrian crash

[robert.saunders]

Between 50 and 100 vehicles have been involved in a motorway pile-up in Western Austria.

At least one person is reported to have been killed and police say they fear a large number may have been injured.

The pile-up happened near the town of Seewalchen on the main motorway linking Vienna and Salzburg.

A police spokesman said it was too early to say what caused the accident, but the weather had been bad and the road was covered in snow.

Some victims were believed to be trapped in their vehicles, Austrian state broadcaster ORF reported.

The snowfall is hampering rescue efforts making it difficult for helicopters to land.

The motorway is expected to be blocked for most of the day, according to an Austrian motoring organisation.

That's one mighty incident

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7312477.stm

 

[whitenemesis]

Between 50 and 100 vehicles have been involved in a motorway pile-up in Western Austria.

At least one person is reported to have been killed and police say they fear a large number may have been injured.

The pile-up happened near the town of Seewalchen on the main motorway linking Vienna and Salzburg.

A police spokesman said it was too early to say what caused the accident, but the weather had been bad and the road was covered in snow.

Some victims were believed to be trapped in their vehicles, Austrian state broadcaster ORF reported.

The snowfall is hampering rescue efforts making it difficult for helicopters to land.

The motorway is expected to be blocked for most of the day, according to an Austrian motoring organisation.

That's one mighty incident

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7312477.stm

I should think it will.... It takes the good part of a day to shift one lorry off the M4!!

 

[Sp!ke]

Austria has the slowest motorway speed limit in Europe that I've seen of 100kmh. (and they all stick to it)

Surprised that they had such a big pile up tbh.

 

[MBManInKen]

Austria has the slowest motorway speed limit in Europe that I've seen of 100kmh. (and they all stick to it)

Austria's motorway speed limit is 130kph, although restricted at night to 110kph on several parts of the network.

The 100kph limit applies to A roads, although in mountainous areas this is often restricted further to 80kph.

 

[robert.saunders]

This is on the A-1 apparently, I understand to be motorway?

 

[MBManInKen]

A1 = Autobahn = Motorway = 130kph limit.

Schnellstraßen = 100kph.

 

[Sp!ke]

My experience tells me otherwise.

I drove right across Austria twice this summer using their motorways and was limited to 100km/h on the motorways and 80km/h through the tunnels.

I drove through nine countries in total and nowhere had such restrictive speeds as Austria.

 

[robert.saunders]

Curious. I haven't driven in Austria merely flown in/out once!

 

[MBManInKen]

Sorry, when I said A roads, I meant it in the UK meaning of the word .

Many countries use an A to indicate motorways as opposed to the M in Britain: for example Belgium (Autosnelweg/Autoroute), France (Autoroute), Germany and Austria (Autobahn), etc.

 

[robert.saunders]

Sp!ke, perhaps you were in Switzerland, or driving a bus?

 

[Sp!ke]

LOL..


Well actually, I was riding the bike and on my southerly journey, as I entered Austria I'd only had one coffee stop since leaving Calais and I was starting to hallucinate due to the pain.

So you could be right.

 

[MBManInKen]

My experience tells me otherwise.

As in every other country (including Germany too), there are local restrictions on all roads in Austria as well. They often apply in mountainous area and usually for very good reason.

I often drive on Austrian motorways and I can assure you that the default speed limit is 130kph. If I remember correctly, there is talk of increasing that to 160kph.

But why take my word for it - here is the info from the Austrians themselves:

Information for car and bike drivers on Austria.info

Speed limits:

Maximum speed limits (if not otherwise indicated on road signs):

Automobiles and Motorcycles:
[...]
• on highways: 130 km/h.

 

[robert.saunders]

handbags at dawn gents...

 

[MBManInKen]

I remember that the speed limit in Norway was pretty low, can't remember exactly how much - 100kph? Although quite a few Norwegians passed me by pretty swiftly even when I was driving at the indicated maximum speed .

 

[Sp!ke]

Should I believe what some bloke tells me on t'internet or my own real life experiences then?

My guess is that either I was very unlucky (or hallucinating worse than I thought) or that of the thousands of miles of Motorways in Austria, not many have 130kmh limits.

I did drive straight through north to south end to end and then back again.

 

[Satch]

Austrian Autobahns have 130 kph limits although there is a stretch near Vienna that was going to be subject to a 160kph limit on an experimental basis.

However, there are many stretches where the limit is lower at 100kph because they are classed as Fast Road (Schnellstrasse) not Autobahn. These tend to be the older and more twisty bits.

Austria needs care to drive in because they keep changing their minds. Until quite recently you had to use dipped headlights or daytime running lights at all times. Also Winter tyres were "suggested ", only being mandatory in places.

But right now dipped headlights or DRL's are only required in poor weather or visibility and winter tyres are mandatory from November to mid April and chains should be carried at all times. Also you have to have a Hi-Vis vest in the car.

The lights bit is interesting. They found out the hard way that the death rate for pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists went up, just as the motoring groups predicted. Why? Because they were the only things not lit up well and drivers were being distracted.

 

[robert.saunders]

 

[Silestanix]

Oh my god... *sighs...

 

[television]

I do not know what to say

 

[Dave Lewis]

I used to drive that road a lot in my truck driving days. I'm amazed it's still two-lane, as it has to carry an enormous amount of traffic, being the main route from southern Germany to Vienna, Hungary, and beyond. If I recall correctly, there are long stretches where trucks are banned from overtaking, and also 100kph limits, which results in a lot of tailgating. This combined with high density of traffic and very poor visibility is a recipe for disaster .