Number of towed cars down slightly in Vienna
More than 1,000 cars were hauled away in Vienna over the past four weekends, it has been announced.Drivers union ÖAMTC said today (Mon) 1,042 illegally parked vehicles were towed away in the capital on the past four Saturdays and Sundays when hundreds of thousands of Austrians and foreigners came to Vienna to do their Christmas shopping.The minimum fine for parking offences in Vienna is 280 Euros.ÖAMTC explained the registered number was down by around 10 per cent year on year. It explained more drivers might have opted for public transport this year due to the wintry conditions. Strong snowfall led to temporary closures of motorways outside Vienna and major delays in traffic in all of Viennas 23 districts during the past few weeks.Officials said in April that one million illegally parked cars have been towed away in Vienna since 1975.The new Viennese government of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the Greens meanwhile vowed to make using public transport more attractive.Public transport currently has a 35 per cent share of overall traffic in the city, and the coalition explained it wanted to increase this percentage figure by five per cent by 2015. The Social Democrats and the Greens also said they will try to lower the amount of individual traffic before the next city parliament election due in five years.Statements regarding the issue in the governments 77-page programme for the new legislative period are kept relatively vague, but the Viennese Freedom Party (FPÖ) nevertheless announced it will hold events to inform residents about its own ideas. The right-wing party is generally popular among drivers.