Skip to main content

Call for truck tolls on Austria’s rural highways

The Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) which is the principal organisation in the country working for environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically efficient mobility, has called for the introduction of truck tolls for rural highways. The organisation says that trucks wear down roads 35,000 times more than cars and also claims that in 2010 truck transport caused road infrastructure-related costs of US$4.78 billion but it paid only $3.46 via tolls and taxes.
April 18, 2012 Read time: 1 min
RSSThe Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) which is the principal organisation in the country working for environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically efficient mobility, has called for the introduction of truck tolls for rural highways. The organisation says that trucks wear down roads 35,000 times more than cars and also claims that in 2010 truck transport caused road infrastructure-related costs of US$4.78 billion but it paid only $3.46 via tolls and taxes.

Between 2002 and 2010, the freight transport volume on Austrian roads increased from 404 to 479 million tonnes. VCÖ estimates that the volume will go up by another 40 per cent unless additional measures are taken.

Related Content

  • Road user charging - replacing the gas tax with a mileage based fee
    January 19, 2012
    Oregon Department of Transportation's James Whitty discusses his state's progress with VMT fee-based charging. Back in 2001, the state of Oregon stole a lead on the rest of the US when it decided to address the need to do something about the gas tax and its decreasing ability to fund highway construction and upkeep. Recognising that a dwindling pot of money could only shrink further as vehicles became more fuelefficient, Oregon's Legislative Assembly passed laws which led to the setting up, by the state's g
  • National Safety Council estimates traffic deaths down three percent in 2013
    February 13, 2014
    The US National Safety Council announced today its preliminary estimate that approximately 35,200 motor vehicle fatalities occurred in the US in 2013, a three percent decrease from 2012. Crash injuries requiring medical attention also are estimated to have fallen by two percent since 2012 to a total of 3.8 million. Although 2013 traffic fatalities are three percent lower than 2012, they are one percent higher than 2011. The relatively high number of fatalities in 2012 appears to have been a one year bum
  • Gearing up for the global electric vehicle revolution
    May 3, 2019
    As transport, communications and energy networks become inextricably linked, policy makers are recognising the implications for our built environment – and the growing electric vehicle market will have a major impact on the world’s infrastructure, says Rolton Group’s Chris Evans
  • The FIA’s formula for future mobility
    March 11, 2016
    The FIA’s Region I president Thierry Willemarck tells Colin Sowman about his organisation’s campaigning work for the rights of road users and mobility for all. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile may be best known as the FIA and the governing body for world motor sport - particularly Formula 1 - but its influence spreads far wider than the racetrack. The organisation was founded in 1904 with a remit to safeguard the rights and promote the interests of motorists and motor sport across the world. No