Driving licences, categories

118 000 new or extended driving licences in 2018; less passenger car licences, more motorcycle licences issued

In 2018, 118 050 driving licences were issued for the first time or further authorisations were added to an existing driving licence, as Statistics Austria reports. This figure is nearly unchanged compared to the previous year (+0.4%). While the number of newly issued and extended driving licences rose continuously from 2006 to 2010, it has remained stable since 2015 at the level of around 118 000. The above-average result for 2012 (134 800) was due to changes of the legal framework (Führerscheingesetz) in the following year, concerning in particular the A-class category (motorcycle).

Around 80 400 driving authorisations for passenger cars (B-class) were issued in 2018, 1.1% less than in 2017. The number of newly issued B-class driving authorisations has been declining since 2012: compared with the peak of the past ten years (2011: 91 800), it was 12% less in 2018. 31% of all 80 400 B-classes (24 900, +1% compared to 2017) were issued after the L17 training, in which one can obtain a driving licence at the age of 17 years after a basic training in a driving school and 3 000 km of private training rides.

In 2018, nearly 8 900 driving authorisations for A-class motorcycles were acquired, 51% more than in 2013 and 4.3% more than in 2017. Since 2014, there has been a steady increase in the number of driving authorisations for A-class motorcycles.

In addition to the 118 050 driving licences first issued or extended in 2018, about 30 800 so-called moped driving licences (class AM) were issued in 2018, 0.7% less than the year before. With these licences, only class AM is acquired, which authorises the driving of mopeds and four-wheeled light vehicles. Moped driving licences were obtained almost exclusively by young people: 92% of them were 15 years (28 500) and 4% 16 years old (1 300). To the same extent as the number of moped driving licences acquired by people of these age groups fell from 2014 to 2018 (-11%), the number of 15- and 16-year-old moped riders injured or killed in road accidents decreased (-10%).

For more detailed information please refer to the German version.

Methodische Informationen, Definitionen:

  • Driving licence: official document which states that a person may operate a motorised vehicle on a public roadway.
  • Categories: licences for different categories of vehicles, such as motorcycles, passenger cars, busses.