VIDA warns of unsafe foreign trucks on Carinthian roads
Sunday 13th September 2026 on 12:30 in
Austria
Austria’s ORF reported that the VIDA union has raised the alarm over foreign trucks it says are increasingly endangering road safety in Carinthia. The trucks, mostly from former Eastern Bloc countries, are often in poor condition, while drivers are increasingly exceeding mandatory rest periods.
Heimo Mauczka, the union’s regional director, said drivers were being put under pressure to ignore rest requirements and manipulate driver cards, while some trucks were in conditions that seriously compromised traffic safety.
The union said violations generally involved foreign trucks, despite five figure fines and an EU points system that can lead to the withdrawal of operating licences. Mauczka said the penalties might not be severe enough or might not be enforced strictly enough in the drivers’ home countries.
About 1.5 million trucks travel through Carinthia each year. Specialist police units and administrative authorities inspect heavy goods traffic at least four times a week, checking about 10,000 trucks annually.
Hannes Micheler, deputy head of the state traffic police, said around 8,000 violations involving technical defects were recorded each year. These included defective brakes, suspension problems and broken axle supports.
Police records show about 50,000 truck safety violations annually, which amounts statistically to five violations per inspected vehicle.
Carinthian freight companies said they did not want to single out cheaper foreign competitors and instead aimed to set an example. Bruno Urschitz, head of Carinthia’s freight transport trade association, said Austrian companies were highly motivated to keep their vehicles in proper condition because they could receive an entry in a company register for violations.
Urschitz said the circumvention of cabotage rules was a greater economic problem for Carinthian freight companies. Foreign trucks may take on loads in Austria but are required to return to their home country after three loads, he said, adding that this was not checked often enough.
Carinthian freight companies attributed the wider problem to growing cost pressure and hope truck drivers will be added to the shortage occupation list, allowing them to recruit workers from non-EU countries.