Salzburg ends controversial summer traffic trial after two months

Salzburg’s controversial “summer regulation” for car traffic ends on Monday after a two-month trial, ORF reported. The measure restricted access through the city centre to vehicles with certain number plates, excluding vehicles with Pongau or Pinzgau plates, for example.

The aim was to reduce the number of journeys through central Salzburg by 1,000 a day. Authorities are expected to announce in two weeks whether that target was achieved, once the results of a traffic count are available. Initial information indicates that the target was reached on some days.

No figures are available for traffic fines because police did not record penalties under a separate category for the trial regulation. Observers said there were probably not many fines, as authorities had not given monitoring of the measure the highest priority.

Use of the park-and-ride facility at the exhibition grounds increased only slightly, with an average of about 10 additional cars per day, according to the report.

The opposition Austrian People’s Party, or ÖVP, has continued to criticise the measure. It said the regulation, initiated by the Social Democratic Party, the Communist Party and the Greens, had not proved successful and must not be repeated.

One question remains open after the trial: whether traffic fell because of the regulation or simply because the fine summer weather encouraged more people to cycle.