Austria sees most first-half traffic injury crashes since 2012

Austria recorded nearly 18,000 traffic crashes involving personal injury in the first half of 2026, the highest number for that period since 2012, ORF reported Friday, citing Statistics Austria. More than 22,300 people were injured and 165 died.

More than 5,000 cyclists, over 2,100 motorcyclists and about 1,250 e-scooter riders were injured or killed. Statistics Austria said the first six months of 2026 marked the highest number of people injured or killed in a first half-year since digital records began in 1992.

Nearly one in three cyclists injured or killed was riding an e-bike. Bicycle crashes rose by 4 percent for e-bikes and 9 percent for conventional bicycles compared with the first half of 2025.

Children aged 10 to 15 were the largest group among the 1,264 e-scooter riders injured or killed. The 435 children in that age group made up more than a third of the total, and 84 percent were boys.

After a helmet requirement for e-scooter riders under 16 took effect on May 1, helmet use among those involved in crashes rose to 47 percent in May and June, from 11 percent in the same months of 2025. Carrying passengers on e-scooters was also prohibited. The number of passengers involved in injury crashes fell, but 47 people, or 6 percent of e-scooter riders involved in crashes, were still passengers in May and June. The figure was 65, or 9 percent, in the same period a year earlier.

Vorarlberg recorded 1,017 crashes causing personal injury in the first half of 2026, a record since 1992 and the first time the number for a first half-year exceeded 1,000.