Austria

Serious accidents involving the so-called “blind spot” of heavy commercial vehicles, as well as a safety summit convened years ago by the city government, prompted the Vienna Chamber of Commerce to take initiative as early as 2017. The goal of the traffic safety project "The Dangers of the Blind Spot” is to raise awareness among pupils (3rd and 4th grade, by the age of 8-12 years) about potential sources of danger through theoretical instruction and then to train proper behavior in the area of the blind spot at a practical training station.

Traffic safety and mobility education is an important component of the Safe System approach in Europe. The educational objectives go beyond the mere prevention of accidents and include the protection of the environment and health. Throughout Europe, efforts are being made to provide such safety education at all school levels. In Austria, traffic safety education is already firmly anchored in the elementary school curriculum. Although an interdisciplinary approach is required in secondary schools, there are no specific lessons scheduled for this purpose, which makes it more difficult to implement in the classroom. However, developmental psychological findings and accident statistics show that traffic safety education is particularly important after elementary school. A comprehensive and continuous educational concept is therefore essential in order to provide children and young people with the necessary skills to participate safely and responsibly in traffic. In order to achieve the competency goals, set by the Ministry of Education, teachers require support in the form of specific lesson plans and materials. Therefore, in 2018 the KFV “Risi & Ko” teaching materials for secondary schools level 1 were created.

The SWARCO Lighthouse Project “Young Mobility Ambassadors Program” (YMAP) was launched in Austria in January 2024 as a long-term initiative to improve road safety for one of the most vulnerable groups—adolescents aged 14 to 19. Statistics show that distraction and risk-taking are among the leading causes of accidents in this age group. The program seeks to raise awareness and encourage behavioural change by involving youths in developing safer mobility habits.
It is built on three pillars: the Traffic Safety Index, the SWARCO Young Mobility Ambassadors Award, and Educational Materials. The Traffic Safety Index, based on a nationwide 2024 survey of school principals, assesses road safety conditions around schools by examining factors such as traffic volume, infrastructure, school entrance design, distance to public transport, and existing safety measures. Schools receive their relative ranking to help identify potential improvements. The SWARCO Young Mobility Ambassadors Award recognises innovative, youth-driven ideas for road safety, while the educational materials are tailored to engage teens using relevant, age-appropriate content.
Together, these elements empower young people to act as ambassadors to their own age groups for smart, safe mobility and contribute meaningfully to reducing road accidents. The initiative supports the European vision of achieving greater road safety for future generations.

With increasing age, cognitive, sensory, and motor skills may decline, potentially affecting safe driving. Older drivers often struggle with adapting to changes in traffic regulations, technology, and road infrastructure. However, they tend to be highly self-aware and motivated to maintain their mobility. Our challenge is to empower senior drivers to remain mobile and safe, without testing or judging them, but by providing supportive, practical tools for self-assessment and adaptation.

Children perceive the world and thus also the street space differently. This fact implements a higher risk for children to get injured in different traffic situations. It is therefore important to start age-appropriate road safety education as early as possible.

The overall target of the KFV podcast is to provide important and usefull tips for people who care about their personal safety and the well-being of their loved ones in the everyday life.

In each episode of the KFV podcast, two KFV experts talk for around 20 minutes about a topic from everyday life: about current issues of safe road traffic as well as accident-free relaxation during sport and exercise in nature, but also about the pitfalls of getting older as well as the turbulent life with children and teenagers.

With life experience, specialist knowledge and a good dose of humour, both moderators provide important tips and back ground information about accident risks, accident occurrence and accident prevention.

Here is a little taster of the content of the first three episodes published in March 2023, April 2023 and May 2023:


Episode 1: ‘L17: the best route to a driving licence?’

L17 is currently the most comprehensive driver training course on the way to a B driving licence. But driving the first 3,000 kilometres with your own child at the wheel can be nerve-wracking. Is the effort, courage and extra work really worth it?

On air: Monday, 11 March 2023

Episode 2: ‘Starting the motorbike season: why are masking effects life-threatening and ellipses life-saving?’

Motorcycling is back in fashion among the 40-plus generation. Since 2000, the number of motorbikes in Austria has more than doubled. But the streamlined silhouette is also the greatest danger: single-track bikes are virtually invisible in many traffic situations. How can motorcycling remain a safe pleasure?

On air: Monday, 17 April 2023


Episode 3: ‘Children & water: fascination, pleasure, risk. How to ensure water fun - with safety!’

Children and water - that means fun, but it's also a risky combination. For small children, paddling pools just a few centimetres deep can be disastrous if left unattended. What are the best safety measures for swimming pools, garden ponds and the like?

On Air: Monday, 15th May 2023

Since March 2023 the KFV Podcast has been published with a new episode once a month.

Traditional driving license training often relies on printed books and passive learning methods, leading to a lack of engagement and incomplete comprehension of critical road safety concepts. Young learners, in particular, benefit from interactive and digital learning experiences. The Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV) recognized this gap and developed the mobile and web app "Yarrive" to enhance road safety education through a modern, interactive, and gamified approach. The objective is to shift from rote memorization to true understanding, ultimately improving driver competence and road safety.

According to traffic accident statistics in Austria, distraction is the main cause of accidents for around a third of accidents. The long-term theme of the State of Styria / Traffic Department entitled “Augen auf die Straße - Attention on the Road” is aimed at all road users and would like to point out the risk of distraction in road traffic.
We, the GROSSE SCHÜTZEN KLEINE association, have now developed special projects for children with the aim of:
*that they are aware of how important attention is and how dangerous distraction can be in traffic
*that no one can be 100 percent attentive all the time
*that they can also recognize whether the other road user is paying attention and, in an emergency, can prevent an accident with their own forgiving attention

In Vienna most parents are afraid to cycle with their kids on the streets because of the lack of proper and continuous infrastructure for bikes. This degenerates the ability of children in Vienna generally reaching an all time low of 17% of children taking a biking license and having over 50% of them fail in the exam due to lack of skill and practical knowledge about road behavior. This further decreases the biking competency of children in secondary school as they don’t have any motivation whatsoever to actually learn biking at a later age. With only 20 km per year of safe biking infrastructure generated and a need for over 300km this creates a gap of centuries while parents wait for safe infrastructure during which biking competencies further deteriorate. the bikebus (Bicibus) provides a method to engage children at the right age to motivate them for biking and educates parents by practicing and by positive example to actually provide a learning opportunity to children, when they actually are prone to learn biking seriously (5-10) This prepares their technical skills so they are ready, when their actual physiology is ready to safely travel through urban traffic alone even without safe infrastructure yet in place.