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Short-term parking zones are increasing: an area-wide short-term parking zone regulation was recently established in Vienna. New short-term parking zones are also gradually being created in Lower Austrian communities. Nevertheless, this model of parking space management is by no means unique. In Eisenstadt, for example, a metered short-stay parking zone was introduced for the city center as early as 1993. Nevertheless, many prominent misconceptions in this area continue to persist. Head of ÖAMTC Legal Advice for Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland: “When advising our members, we repeatedly find that there is still a lot of misconception regarding parking in short parking zones.”
Short-term parking: Five common misconceptions
The mobility club’s lawyer clarifies five common misconceptions to clear up false assumptions and help prevent surprise fines.
- Misconception: “I use handy parking – as soon as I have purchased the parking ticket online, I can leave my car.”
Attention: the short-term parking ticket booked via Handyparken is only valid when the booking has also been confirmed. “Even if it is only a minute – as long as there is no booking confirmation, there is also no valid parking ticket, and it can already be penalized,” says Nikolaus Authried from ÖAMTC. “In the legal advice, we repeatedly receive inquiries from members who had left their vehicle before receiving the booking confirmation and then received a penalty.” Therefore, one should always remain in or immediately by the vehicle until the booking of the parking ticket has been confirmed.
2. Misconception: “I am allowed to park the car in front of my house driveway – for me personally, the short-term parking zone does not apply here.”
If the StVO applies, it is not permitted to park in front of a driveway, but only to stop, whereby the driver must remain in the vehicle to clear the driveway immediately if necessary. However, there is one crucial exception: the person with the sole power of disposal, i.e., the house owner or tenant, may also park in front of their driveway. “However, beyond this special legal regulation, the general traffic rules also apply here. If my driveway is in a short-stay parking zone, the short-stay parking zone regulations also apply to me. Even if it is your ‘own’ driveway, you would have to pay a short-stay parking fee in this case – and in the event of a violation, you would also be subject to a fine,” explains the ÖAMTC lawyer.
3. Misconception: “In Vienna’s short-stay parking zones, I’m allowed to park for 15 minutes free of charge – I don’t need a parking ticket for that.”
“In Vienna, it is indeed possible to park the car for 15 minutes free of charge in a short-term parking zone – nevertheless, you always have to buy a corresponding parking ticket for this,” explains Nikolaus Authried from ÖAMTC. Mere identification via parking disc or a handwritten note is not permissible and thus a potential trigger for a penalty. “Therefore, always fill out a parking ticket and place it behind the windshield or book a free short-term parking ticket via Handyparken,” says Guthrie.
4. Misconception: “With an e-car, I can park for free in a short-term parking zone.”
“In legal terms, there are no general, special regulations for parking e-cars in short-stay parking zones. Therefore, this assumption is incorrect,” informs ÖAMTC legal expert Nikolaus Authorized. However, some municipalities have short-term parking zones where electric cars can be parked free of charge under certain conditions. In Vienna, for example, there is currently no short-term parking fee for the duration of the charging process at e-charging stations. “To avoid unnecessary hassle, you should, in any case, find out in advance about the regulations that apply locally or in the respective municipality,” says the ÖAMTC lawyer.
5. Misconception: “If using a parking disc is prescribed, I can use any available model.”
This is not the case: if prescribed, a parking disc must be used in metered short-stay parking zones, as stipulated by the Austrian Short-Stay Parking Zone Monitoring Ordinance: This type of parking disc has a dial and a pointer, and it must be possible to display the arrival time to the nearest quarter of an hour. “Those parking disc models with a viewing window – which are also frequently sold in Austria – where the arrival time can only be set to an accuracy of half an hour may not be used in metered short-stay parking zones according to this ordinance,” informs the head of ÖAMTC’s legal department.
- source: oeamtc.at/picture:
