With a proposed ban on access to the city center, the city of Vienna wants to calm traffic in the first district: anyone who wants to drive into the city center will need a permit in the future. You want to control this with large-scale video surveillance. However, a leaked preliminary study on the project shows that access control would come at a high cost, yield only a slight reduction in traffic – and in its apparently favored design is extremely sensitive in terms of data protection legislation, an expert warns.
The 29-page PowerPoint presentation with the preliminary results of the study, which is available to krone.at and ORF Vienna, is said to have been presented to the traffic-calmed inner city steering committee on May 17. City councilor Ulli Sima (SPÖ), however, told “Vienna Today” that she was not aware of the report. She does not want to talk about unfinished studies.
High costs, only 14 percent fewer driveways
However, the content has explosive power: the traffic planners responsible for the research classify the effect of traffic calming effect in the inner city of Vienna as low. An initial investment of 18.6 million euros and annual operating costs of 2.4 million euros – a large part for the camera access control and associated IT infrastructure – is offset by an expected access reduction of only 14 percent. According to the forecast, parking use is expected to decrease by 24 percent.
Driveways must be monitored with cameras
The nature of the planned checks is particularly sensitive to data protection officers: the city of Vienna wants to set up camera checkpoints at the entrances to the city center that will film incoming cars so that drivers can be penalized without permission. The study discusses two approaches to evaluate the resulting recordings: either through an upstream agency of the City of Vienna, or through direct access to the video streams by the police. The slide also outlines how the proceeds should be distributed: 80 percent for the road maintenance company, 20 percent for the police.
Privacy advocates denounce direct access for police
However, according to data protection expert Thomas Lohninger of the NGO epicenter.works, such direct access by the police would be extremely difficult. As soon as it became known that the access roads would be monitored with video surveillance, he sounded the alarm that the cameras could not only be used for license plate recognition. That the police should now have direct access and could theoretically also use the cameras to observe demonstrations on the Ring without having to ask in advance is very problematic. Instead of the planned cameras for the traffic calming effect in the inner city, which should in principle be assessed positively, there would also be “more flexible means”.
The Ministry of the Environment has the last word
So far, data protection concerns have been dismissed as “absurd” by those responsible for the City of Vienna. But the video surveillance of the access roads would be legally difficult and would require a reform of the traffic rules. Such a move, in turn, would fall within the area of responsibility of Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens), who has already announced that she plans to take a critical look at the Vienna project in terms of data protection.
The study’s authors also know that discussion is still needed: On the slide on the planned timetable, they estimate that the legal basis could be created “early 2023 at the earliest.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
