Warning 120 euro fine for not sticking toll pass

My assumption would be that if you don't attach it, then you could give or sell it to someone else...or use it in another vehicle.

"The sticker is designed so that you cannot remove and reattach it. You must purchase a sticker and affix it to the spot designated on the back of the vignette, either on the upper left of the windshield or in the center below the attachment point of the rear-view mirror on the inside of the windshield. If the top of the windshield is tinted to prevent the entrance of sunlight, the vignette must be attached below the tinted area so it can be seen clearly."

https://www.tripsavvy.com/vignette-austria-the-austria-road-tax-and-toll-sticker-1507935 First google hit I got...

Another...https://www.austria.info/us/basic-facts/getting-there-around/austria-by-car/toll-sticker

"You must display a Highway Toll Sticker (Vignette) on the inside of the windshield of your vehicle before you enter Austria. Please note, the vignette must be stuck to your windshield in order to be valid. Failure to do so will mean a heavy, on-the-spot fine."

I mean - it sucks, but YOU are required to learn the laws of where you are driving, not requiring a guide book to inform you - and complaining about something like this will get you nothing but grief on this forum. Buckle up. But it is a good reminder to others.

On the back of the vignette is printed (in English) "Vignettes that are not stuck on are invalid."

As said above, it is clear, in English, on the back of the Vignette. And there are diagrams as to where it needs to be. No sarcasm. Just read it. And do what it says.

I have warned here over and over that this is the case. This proves the case.

Do the research.

This coming August will be the 10th time since 2009 that I will have visited Austria. Each time stopping before/at the border to purchase a vignette and attach it to the windshield. And not once did I get a fine. Simply follow the rules/laws and you shouldn't have to worry about such things.

Austria is a beautiful country with very nice people, in fact I dropped off my Austrian friend at the airport last night after a week's visit.

Put this incident behind you and enjoy the rest of your stay.

Jason

Thanks for sharing your experience as a warning to others. I think all of us benefit when someone takes the time to share. It must have been very discouraging to you to spend the money for the fine.

I'm just not sure what the benefit is of people coming on and pointing out that the poster made a mistake over and over again. I'm pretty sure he had figured that out by the time he had paid the fine..........

Thank you very much for your courtesy of warning the rest of us. I certainly have gotten fines in Europe. In France, we saw the radar warnings on the high-speed highway, but did not slow enough, and got a 50 € fine, billed directly to our credit card, and not able to be appealed. Traffic laws in the EU are different than in the US. This is one reason why I often suggest train travel.

I hope the rest of your trip is fun. Remember, it's just money. Don't let it ruin your trip. It's an annoyance now, but all annoyances become good stories later.

Carol,

I think the response from forum members would be different if the OP had said something self-deprecating like, "Don't be stupid like me." Instead, the tone of the post is that he has been wronged -- maybe by RS for not warning him about vignette rules but definitely by Austria for having a rule that in reality makes a lot of sense (and is clearly spelled out on the vignette). The parting shot at the end of the post does not earn him much sympathy, either.

Thank you all for your prompt replies. We will put it past us and move on. We were merely trying to help other travelers who use Rick's book, since we were not told by the salesman, nor were there any signs at the station on how to use the sticker. Also the text on the sticker itself is very small.

Since we were obviously tourists it might have been more helpful for the officer to explain the error and make sure the sticker was applied properly without collecting the fine.

I think all would agree 120 euro is excessive given the infraction.

Not everyone will agree that €120 is an excessive fine. After all, the police can't discriminate and have to treat every violator the same way. The reason the Vignette must be affixed appropriately is so that it can't be transferred from person to person or car to car. The Vignette is designed to come apart in small pieces when it is removed. Just laying on the dash or taping it up defeats that protection.

The Vignette is a pass for unlimited driving on virtually all Austrian motorways - a one time payment instead of lots of toll booths, such as in France or Italy or many parts of the US toll roads. Passing the Vignette around is the same as evading taxes. Not saying that you would do that, but that some people do and the enforcement is strict.

You say you displayed it in the window. What actually did you do - so others can learn what not to do?

First, thank you for posting this as a reminder to those who might come along in the future and benefit from your experience.

Second, I've been fined for a violation when on vacation, and understand it's no fun.

However, whether I agree or not with your statement that the fine is excessive is irrelevant. I am not an Austrian citizen--this is their law and their prescribed punishment, so what I think about it makes no difference. And I have never understood the "I'm a tourist, I should not be penalized" idea...why? Sure, it would be nice not to be penalized, but then any non-native could use this as an excuse, rightly or wrongly. I am not saying that in this instance you were trying to get away with anything, but the police have no way of knowing this.

And, I do hope you are able to put this behind you and enjoy the rest of your trip.

The size of the fine, which is high, is there to get people to act correctly. Size of the fine is up to the Austrian government. Remember, a tourist is the ideal person to tax - you will probably not go back, and you will certainly not be voting for anyone levying the tax.

As I noted before, best to forget this, and enjoy the rest of the trip.

In 2014, we were taking the night train from Split to Zagreb. I wanted to quickly go to a local cafe, and email a guy in Zagreb. Somehow, I lost the ticket for the couchette. $80. We had to re-purchase it. My wife was annoyed at me. But we did repurchase it. It was a learning experience - on a US plane, you can get the boarding pass reprinted, but not in Croatia.

I'm just not sure what the benefit is of people coming on and pointing
out that the poster made a mistake over and over again. I'm pretty
sure he had figured that out by the time he had paid the
fine..........

I'm with you Carol. Sometimes people start threads and rant about how they were wronged but this OP did not - it was just a warning not to repeat their mistake.

Some of the posters in this thread have been self-righteous to downright rude.

Let's make sure you understand that no one takes delight in your misfortune, and other travelers will certainly appreciate the "heads up" on Austrian vignettes. You are in a part of Europe, though, where the rules are the rules, and the expectation is that everybody follows them. Punishment comes to those who don't follow the rules, and not a lot of effort is spent on understanding why they were broken (as in the US). Punishment is also set at a level to make sure the behavior does not occur again (ergo, the 120 euro fine).

So, you have 2 choices. You can be ethnocentric and say the officer should have acted differently (more like a US officer) or the fine should have been lower (like a US fine). OR you can embrace that you have experienced Austrian culture deeply (as so many posters here say they want to do!), albeit in a painful way. I would encourage you to account for the fine in the "cultural experience" part of the budget and enjoy the lovely country/people of Austria. It's an awesome place!

...and I say that as someone who endured a severe tongue lashing in German from a conductor on a train from Munich to Salzburg for buying the wrong ticket. I had no idea what she was saying... until a lovely German bystander who also spoke English was able to intercede for me and my travel companion.

I still shudder when I think about it. :)

So, I stopped thinking about it about 30 minutes after it happened and had a great time in Austria.

...but I've never bought the wrong ticket again!

Wow tough crowd. Get the fire hoses. I think it was a good reminder and a good lesson. Geeesh, there are worse things in this world—even on this forum.

The thing with vignettes is sometimes you luck out and one has already been attached to the windshield of the car by a previous renter. Sometimes you loose and have to pay the vignette that everyone else gets to use in the rental car for the calendar year.

The ASFINAG officers who charge the fine for Vignette violations have the strict order not to accept any (lame) excuse; ASFINAG being the organization which builds and maintains Austria's highways, including toll collection.

ASFINAG officers are not police officers. Nevertheless, if you refuse to pay the fine as a non-resident in Austria, they will call the police, and then things will get nasty.

On the contrary, a police officer who approaches you because of a violation of the traffic code (e.g. speeding) has some discretionary powers. If you talk to him cleverly you have a chance of getting away with an admonition.

I got all in a fluster when I bought mine last summer after thinking I had lost my purse - thankfully I had only left it in the car, but with all the distraction we drove off without displaying the sticker. We were about a mile over the border before a frantic scramble to get it in place. I wasn't sure how they checked, whether there were cameras or anything, so it's useful to know about the officers.

On a separate note, we parked in Hallein one year in a public car park. With my broken German I read signs indicating it was two hours free parking. It was only due to the kindness of strangers that someone stopped us and told us we needed to display a clock on our dashboard indicating the time we arrived. It was a rental car so it came with the clock in the glove box but I would have been none the wiser without someone taking the time to advise us. Share the love!

At the risk of driving this into the ground, I’ll add my 2 cents. It’s always best when driving in foreign territory, even outside your home state, to adhere to the letter of the law. As to the size of the fine . . . It’s meant to discourage further infractions. We have a law in California against talking or texting on a hand-held mobile phone while driving. (Why anyone needs a law to tell them this is dangerous behavior is beyond me.). The fine is $20, so ridiculously small that one can see violators any time one is on the road. A $200 fine would stop all that, pronto.

When you mention "your readers," I assume that you mean readers of Rick's guidebooks, although you may have just meant here online. Any way, in the Vienna/Austria book, this is the text on p. 572:

You’ll need a Vignette sticker stuck to the inside of your rental car’s windshield (buy at the border crossing, big gas stations near borders, or a rental-car agency). The cost is €9 for 10 days, or €26 for two months. Not having one earns you a stiff fine. Place it on your windshield exactly as shown on the back of the sticker, and keep the lower tear-off portion--it's your receipt.

In books covering multiple countries where procedures vary, the description of the "toll sticker" is less detailed.

€120 - it sounds like you got off with a minimal penalty. According to Wikipedia.....

"As of 1997, vignettes are required for all vehicles of up to 3.5 tons, driving on motorways and expressways (prefixed with letters A and S) under federal administration. Vignettes are overseen by the police and toll-sheriff employees of the federal motorway administration. A €240 fine with an additional obligatory payment of a substitute toll are charged to travelers without a valid vignette, and unpaid fines lead to penalties between €300 and €3,000. Furthermore, the vehicle may be confiscated from foreigners to guarantee payment of the penalty."

There have been numerous warnings on the forum over the years about the highway tax vignettes not only in Austria but also in Switzerland and other countries.

I assume you had an International Driver's Permit whilst driving in Austria? This from the Austrian Embassy in Washington DC - http://www.austria.org/driving-a-vehicle/ . IDP's are also compulsory in Italy and highly recommended in France.

Thanks for posting as this provides a good reminder for those who may be planning to drive in Austria.

I remember some years ago seeing a post on the Frommer's forum by someone who had an Austrian "vignette" for sale, so I guess that's what some people do if they get away with not displaying it well stuck on. I wish now I had asked how the poster came by the vignette.

Thanks for clearing that up, Laura.

There have been childish rants on this Forum from people describing the consequences of unwittingly breaking rules in European countries as "scams". Rick and Jenny take ownership of their mistake - good for them!