Around 500 police officers and police officers will be used in the federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland at the start of school. “Due to an increased presence of the executive, traffic in the field of schools is focused on sensitizing the vehicle drivers,” emphasizes Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. In addition, older students will also support the executive in securing the way to secure the way to secure the way to secure the school.
In Austria there were around 1.19 million students in the school year 2024/2025, of which around 376,000 of which were in elementary schools, including 165,000 in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. More than 90,000 first graders will start their first school day in one of the 3,000 elementary schools in Austria in early September. School path plans were created for the majority of the elementary schools, and critical areas such as intersections are secured.
“As an interior minister, together with more than 32,000 police officers, I have to ensure security in this country. This also includes traffic safety, to which the colleagues make their contribution to Austria’s streets with their consistent and often non -safe use,” says Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. “In view of the upcoming school start in Eastern Austria in the federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, I would like to point out the importance of the way to school and appeal to all drivers to pay particular attention to children near the school. The police will be increasingly deployed at the start of school with a visible presence and controls to increase security on school,” says Karner.
More than 400 school accidents in 2024
In 2024, 419 traffic accidents occurred across Austria, in which 451 students between the ages of six and 15 were injured on school – 42 of them were difficult, there were no fatalities in the previous year. The largest proportion of injured children was on foot (35 percent). Also on the protection path where children should be particularly protected, accidents always occur. In 2024, 80 children crashed on a crosswalk. The most common causes of accidents in the case of protection path accidents are priority injuries or red light abuse (73 percent) as well as carelessness and distraction (twelve percent).
In the current year 2025, a fatal school accident had to be complained: On June 5, 2025, a seven -year -old student was overwhelmed and killed by a truck in the Kufstein district in Tyrol on the way to school.
Monitoring by the federal police
To protect the weakest road users, the Ministry of the Interior and the police rely on repressive measures against vehicle drivers across Austria:
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Superiors of school by police officers and police officers at striking nodes and crossings that are determined together with the school,
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Controls of speed behavior in the near area of schools and kindergartens,
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Monitoring the right children’s transport and belt duty as well as
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the right behavior and the rapprochement speed in the area of school and protection paths.
On the other hand, prevention is based on prevention through consciousness formation and sensitization of road users.
Prevention, awareness formation, education
In addition to the repressive measures that the police have to set to protect the weaker road users, prevention, consciousness formation and education represent essential and important components of the work of the executive. “The protection of our children, as the weakest group in road traffic, is a very special and personal concern,” says Karner. “I would also like to thank all volunteers ‘school -proofs’ such as older students, parents, grandpas and grandmas as well as civil servants for their important work for the security of our children.”
Traffic education and cycling test
The Ministry of the Interior and the Executive support the education and awareness of the children in the context of school traffic education in elementary schools and kindergartens, in which around 300,000 children are reached every year. Children learn with playful means to recognize and avoid the dangers in road traffic. For example, children learn that smartphones and headphones impair attention to traffic and thus pose a great danger.
In addition, attention is also paid to the young cyclists. You will be prepared for the voluntary cycling test – the first driver’s license for children – in the 4th grade elementary school, the technical condition of your bicycles is checked, and you will receive tips on the correct control of the bike.