Anger and bewilderment: the arbitrariness of the authorities ensured that thousands were stuck in traffic at the Austrian border on Sunday night.
“At 5.58 am we crossed the border, we were simply waved through, no controls, no data recorded.” Bernhard Neuhoff, radio presenter from Bavaria, shakes with anger on Twitter. He had waited 15 (!) Hours to enter Carinthia from Slovenia. Pointless!
Authorities do not feel responsible
Scenes from an authority grotesque: the interior and defense ministries, who carry out the controls, do not feel responsible. The Ministry of Health issued a new regulation on Saturday, according to which “travelers from risk areas” have to show a form. In Carinthia, the health authorities interpreted this to mean that all residents and foreigners (who are traveling through) should be checked. The Ministry of Health thought about random checks, the Carinthians stopped all.
The vacationers were stuck in their cars for up to 15 hours
The mischief was done: kilometerlanger Stau. At the Karawanken tunnel, thousands of travelers were stuck on the motorway for up to 15 hours, also because only two counters were open (three on the empty opposite side). When entering via the Loiblpass it was seven hours. “Only 50 cars were allowed to drive through the Karawanken tunnel every hour. It took seven hours for two kilometers,” says ORF reporter Konrad Weixelbraun.Today”. “Many were out with children, people ran out of water and food. And there were no toilets anywhere.”
On Sunday morning the Carinthian authorities decided to relax the controls. Yesterday the traffic jam in front of the tunnel was “only” five kilometers long.
