€200 fine for HIDs in Austria

red1

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Two mates have just been on FaceTime from Austria with a tale of woe!

Big Derek of this parish and Mick the Saw, both on 1200 GSA's got stopped by Austrian police and fined 200 euros each for having aftermarket HID's.
 
speeding or no autoroute ticket .. more like :confused:

Of course!
I'm sick of my mates lying through their f*cking teeth to me!
I'll tell them they're twats because there are clever shits on UKGSers that know much better than them what happened.
 
Of course!
I'm sick of my mates lying through their f*cking teeth to me!
I'll tell them they're twats because there are clever shits on UKGSers that know much better than them what happened.

Funny. :D
 
Of course!
I'm sick of my mates lying through their f*cking teeth to me!
I'll tell them they're twats because there are clever shits on UKGSers that know much better than them what happened.

Are you sure it wasn't Australia ? :augie
 
Why is this in 'Equipment & Toys'? :confused:

Er .... because it's about fitting "Equipment & Toys" and the possible legal consequences of such.


There's already been some discussion on here regarding the possible legality of HID lights on bikes due to the legal situation regarding HID aftermarket fitting on cars.
This just highlights possible future issues.

AND!!!!!

Can anyone within the collective remember seeing a foreign GS/GSA with HID's fitted?
I can't and TBOMK there are no such things in TouraTwat or any other rip-off catalogue.
 
Just been trawling t'interweb on this one but can't find any advice specifically about aftermarket lighting on bikes. However, Austria has reversed/removed it's requirement for Daytime Running Lights (on cars) due to issues over dazzle and 'light masking' of vulnerable road users, so I wouldn't be surprised to find that they are particularly strict on lighting infringements.

The difficulty is, of course, how do you know what is an infringement? The AA foreign driving advice for example doesn't mention anything about vehicle adaptations. :confused:

A mate who used to work in Vienna tells me that "just about any 'add-on' to a standard vehicle can be illegal here - it's even stricter than Switzerland!" - I'm sure someone with first-hand experience will be along shortly!
 
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Well the subject of the post is about me and a mate,i can confirm that what red1 has said is true.ive put something in the posts about illegal hids thread, we were stopped just outside Landeck on the road from Naunders just before the motorway and road splits.another biker was stopped and fined 10 euros for removing their silencer, i think that we were unfairly treated but you csnt argue with two bike cops with glocks.speeding in Austria attracts a130 fine so 200 for hids was a joke, its sad that bike cops dont have any mpathy for fellow bikers particulary in regard to being seen. A tick off and a warning should have sufficed but not with these two, so be warned when you travel in Austria as they will fine you for any mods that they deem are not legal.
Mts
 
Just been trawling t'interweb on this one but can't find any advice specifically about aftermarket lighting on bikes. However, Austria has reversed/removed it's requirement for Daytime Running Lights (on cars) due to issues over dazzle and 'light masking' of vulnerable road users, so I wouldn't be surprised to find that they are particularly strict on lighting infringements.

The difficulty is, of course, how do you know what is an infringement? The AA foreign driving advice for example doesn't mention anything about vehicle adaptations. :confused:

A mate who used to work in Vienna tells me that "just about any 'add-on' to a standard vehicle can be illegal here - it's even stricter than Switzerland!" - I'm sure someone with first-hand experience will be along shortly!

Might be true in Vienna but just as London isn't England so Vienna is not Austria. Certainly here in Kärnten I don't think they are bothered. I fit my Cat. once a year for the test-full emission checks are included. It stays on only for the 1km ride back here. Never had a problem on the road with my set up- Remus any Y piece, even with the baffle pipe removed. We get all sorts here, Dutch bikers are especially fond of noisy pipes but as far as I know none have ever been stopped. None of our local biker friends has reported any problems either. Maybe the police are a little more laid back here in the sunny south but I doubt it. Austrians like southern Germans have a very relaxed outlook. A lot of our guests have been caught speeding (often because they do not understand that there is an automatic limit in towns) Usually they report that the police were friendly and just take the money (often the minimum allowed) without any checks on the bike. In the coming week we will be invaded by around 60,000 Harleys for the annual European Bike week. Many have straight through exhausts etc - never heard of any of them having problems either.

John
 
Do you think they could fine you again on the way back ..... say 10 days later :nenau
 
Well the subject of the post is about me and a mate,i can confirm that what red1 has said is true.ive put something in the posts about illegal hids thread, we were stopped just outside Landeck on the road from Naunders just before the motorway and road splits.another biker was stopped and fined 10 euros for removing their silencer, i think that we were unfairly treated but you csnt argue with two bike cops with glocks.speeding in Austria attracts a130 fine so 200 for hids was a joke, its sad that bike cops dont have any mpathy for fellow bikers particulary in regard to being seen. A tick off and a warning should have sufficed but not with these two, so be warned when you travel in Austria as they will fine you for any mods that they deem are not legal.
Mts

As a matter of interest, were you done for HIDs in the headlight unit or for HID spots/driving lamps?
 
Seems to me there is more to this than meets the eye.

Be interesting to see the ticket and see exactly what the fines were for.
 
Well the subject of the post is about me and a mate,i can confirm that what red1 has said is true.ive put something in the posts about illegal hids thread, we were stopped just outside Landeck on the road from Naunders just before the motorway and road splits.another biker was stopped and fined 10 euros for removing their silencer, i think that we were unfairly treated but you csnt argue with two bike cops with glocks.speeding in Austria attracts a130 fine so 200 for hids was a joke, its sad that bike cops dont have any mpathy for fellow bikers particulary in regard to being seen. A tick off and a warning should have sufficed but not with these two, so be warned when you travel in Austria as they will fine you for any mods that they deem are not legal.
Mts

Not around here they won't. Most common speeding fine is 25 Euro, we did have one guy who was fined 100 Euro but it turned out he argued with the policeman who then added extra for overtaking on a white line. It's called shooting yourself in the foot! We had a group of 7 Dutch guys, all on heavily modified bikes, who were given a bulk fine of 70 Euro between them. As they were on the way to the Grossglockner and we had given them free passes for the 22 Euro toll they were still saving money that day.

Please don't draw conclusion from one incident in the Landeck area. I think they are too close to their Swiss neighbours and have picked up bad habits. Here in Kärnten if you behave yourself in the towns and watch out at junctions where there is a 70kms limit you won't be bothered. Same goes for that part of northern Italy and Slovenia that forms part of our "patch". In four years here I have never heard of any biker being stopped for anything other than speeding and just occasionally for a document check. As I have said my 1150GS has what is technically an illegal system here as any bike fitted with a Cat. must retain it.

As regards being pulled for your lights, how did they know?, was it that they obviously cause dazzle or were you stopped for something else?. By the way headlights are compulsory here on bikes, it is just for cars that the rules changed.

John
 
Are after market HID's legal in the UK then?

I thought they were only legal on self leveling light systems?
 


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