It may surprise many people in Austria to know there are some rules about how old your child can be before they are allowed out bike riding or scooting alone - and that children aged under 14 must be home by a certain hour.
Here’s what you need to know.
Curfew
Children and young people are only allowed to stay out until 23:00 across Austria until they reach the age of 14, according to the ÖAMTC (Austrian automobile, motorcycle and touring club). Children from 14 to 16 need to be at home by 1 am.
This time was standardised throughout the country at the beginning of 2019 by the Youth Protection Act. Legal guardians can also impose stricter going-out times for their children, but not more generous ones.
Trams, buses and trains
In theory children are allowed to use public transport alone from their sixth birthday. However, some companies such as Wiener Linien, Grazer Linien and Linz AG have ruled that children under six years of age are not allowed to use the facilities and vehicles without an adult.
An escort service for children is also offered on some railway lines. When traveling abroad, children who are traveling alone, with one parent or accompanied by grandparents or friends should have a power of attorney from their legal guardian. You can find out more at this website.
Scooters
Since April 1st, 2019, children, if they are over eight-years-old, have been allowed to ride alone on scooters, as long as they are not electric or motorised.
Cycling
Children under the age of twelve are only allowed to cycle on public roads in Austria under the supervision of an accompanying person, who must be at least 16 years old.
They must also wear a cycle helmet until they are 12 years old.
However, children who have successfully passed a cycling test are allowed to ride alone from the age of 10. Since April 1st, 2019, the cycling test can be taken at the age of nine if children are in the 4th grade of school
Generally the preparation for this test and the test itself are held by the compulsory schools as part of the traffic education program
Children must learn the rules of the road police and take a test before they are given a permit.
The new free ÖAMTC App Fahrrad-Champion helps with the preparation , with which traffic rules and the correct behaviour in traffic can be learned in a playful way.You can find out more at www.oeamtc.at/fahrrad.
Cycle training
If you are based in Vienna, free cycle training for children is available at the Naschmarkt exercise area and in the Kaisermühlen cycling park. The training is suitable for children between three and 12 years of age, with people on site to support you. Free rental bikes and helmets are available.
Sessions run between June 11th and October 10th on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and can be attended without prior registration. Adults can have bikes checked at the same time.
Staying alone in the house
There are no hard and fast rules as to when you can leave your children alone at home, according to the WienXtra website.
As a parent or legal guardian, you have a duty to supervise your child, known as die Aufsichtspflicht in German. This is generally valid until your child turns 18 and means you have to ensure nothing harms them mentally or physically. This duty can be transferred to a teacher, babysitter or other responsible adult.
If considering leaving your child alone, the youth organisation Wien Xtra recommends asking yourself.
- How old is the child?
- What is the stage of development?
- How does the respective child behave in certain situations? Does the child repeatedly exhibit risky behaviour? Or are they shy, cautious, and reliable?
All these points should be taken into consideration when deciding if a child can be left alone.
One final point to bear in mind is that guardians may be in some cases financially responsible if their child does something illegal such as vandalism, while in their care, according to the Kurier newspaper.
The paper cited as an example a case where some elementary school children deliberately scratched a 52 cars in Graz, causing damage of €30,000.
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