Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
The data collection is performed using a sample survey which is carried out following the nationality principle, i.e. road freight vehicles registered in Austria are surveyed. More precisely, road tractors and lorries with a load capacity of at least 2 tonnes are included. The basic population for the sample survey covers about 69 000 vehicles. Thereof a stratified sample of 26 000 vehicles is drawn according to load capacity classes, regional classification of the place of work (Vienna/rest of Austria), size classification resp. category of the vehicle and type of transport (hire or reward/own account). For the 26 000 vehicles it is obligatory to report all journeys for one week. The vehicles are assigned to the local units of employment – not to the enterprises – due to the fact that information about the journeys and the carried goods is available at these locations. In total there are about 7 200 local units of employment and 6 800 enterprises affected yearly which have to report a maximum of four weeks per year.
The basis for the sample survey are the Vehicle Register (for vehicles) and the Statistical Business Register (for local units).
The statistics are compiled and transmitted quarterly to Eurostat by the National Statistical Institute of Austria (Bundesanstalt Statistik Austria) on a quarterly basis. The data collection is based on the following legal acts:
National:
Bundesgesetz über die Bundesstatistik (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000), idF: BGBl. I Nr. 136/2001, BGBl. I Nr. 71/2003 (Novelle des Bundesstatistikgesetzes 2000 im Rahmen des Budgetbegleitgesetzes 2003), BGBl. I Nr. 92/2007 und BGBl. I Nr. 125/2009.
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983: Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz).
BGBl. Nr. 393/1995: Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005.
BGBl. Nr. 63/1952: Bundesgesetz vom 27. März 1952 über die gewerbsmäßige Beförderung von Gütern mit Kraftfahrzeugen (Güterbeförderungsgesetz), wieder verlautbart durch Bundesgesetz BGBl. Nr. 593/1995, idF: BGBl. I Nr. 32/2002 (relevant §17 Abs. 2 Punkt 5 und Abs.7).
EU:
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road.
Regulation (EC) No 6/2003 Commission Regulation concerning the dissemination of statistics on the carriage of goods by road.
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES)
vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (YES)
A2. Journey-related variables:
place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (NO)
A3. Goods-related variables:
type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES)
The optional variable type of cargo follows the Classification of Cargo Types of UNECE (United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe - codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21 adopted by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986). Type of cargo is collected in Austria and also transmitted to Eurostat.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Road goods transport - goods transport with road tractors and lorries with a load capacity of at least 2 t; transport for hire or reward and transport on own account.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual:
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods. Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country by a vehicle registered in that country. International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries. Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country. Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle. Place of loading/unloading of a goods road vehicle on another mode of transport.
Place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the goods road motor vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the goods road motor vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
3.5. Statistical unit
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the goods road transport vehicle and the local unit (a site of a company, as identified in the national business register).
3.6. Statistical population
As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information.
3.7. Reference area
Goods vehicles registered in Austria.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data is available for 1965 to 1983 whereas data was collected only partially and the methodology is not documented well. From 1984 to 1995 data is available without breaks due to the national law which entered into force in 1983.
In 1995, the sample survey used was changed. Instead of using the territoriality principle the nationality principle is used since then.
In 2006, the method used was changed from a sample survey based on local units to a combined time- and vehicle sample survey. This change effectively reduced the respondent burden and increased the data quality.
All data have been provided to Eurostat according to the legal act starting with 1995. For the reference years 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 data was transmitted as a single file. Starting with the reference year 1999, three files were transmitted.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The time unit of measure for Austria is one week for which the local units have to report all their journeys (laden or empty) performed by selected vehicles. The local units have to report at most for either one week every four years (load capacity of the local unit below 15 t) or one week for each quarter every year (load capacity of the local unit more than 15 t), depending on the size (in terms of vehicles) of the local unit.
Following data are collected: number of journeys (laden or empty), place of loading or place of unloading, weight of goods (in kilograms), transit countries, border crossings, type of goods, dangerous goods, type of cargo and number and type of containers.
The respondents have to report the places of loading/unloading for each journey resp. the starting point and end point in cases of unladen journeys. Additionally, in one of the three electronic questionnaires they can also report vehicle kilometers.
If only places of loading/unloading are reported, the vehicle kilometers are calculated by using a distance matrix created by Statistics Austria.
Data is transmitted to Eurostat according to the legal act.
Data is collected on a quarterly basis and transmitted to Eurostat five months after the end of each reference period (quarters).
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National level:
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983: Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz).
BGBl. Nr. 393/1995: Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen-und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005
European level:
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road.
Regulation (EC) No 6/2003 Commission Regulation concerning the dissemination of statistics on the carriage of goods by road.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
National level :
Not applicable.
From Eurostat :
Eurostat submits annually semi-aggregated data (data exchange tables, see Commission Regulation (EU) No 202/2010 amending the Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003) back to the reporting countries so that they can compile the total road freight transport on their national territories, including the operations by national hauliers and also those of all other reporting countries.
These data exchange tables include more detailed breakdowns than the publicly available tables. They also include, for each value, the information on the number of observations that the estimates are based on. In this way, the reporting countries can estimate the reliability of results that they aggregate from the data exchange tables.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The procedures with regard to statistical confidentiality follows the Handbook of Statistical Disclosure Control (2010) and the Federal Statistical Act.
Regarding to Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 the data are transmitted to Eurostat without indicating the name, address or registration number of the local unit or the road freight vehicle.
8.1. Release calendar
Road transport statistics are published quarterly 150 days (five months) after the end of the reference quarter and are preliminary until publishing the annual results in form of a press release and are replaced by final data at the same date.
In addition, flash estimates for total transport volume and total transport performance are published one month after the end of the reference quarter. These flash estimates are replaced by the quarterly results five month after the end of the reference quarter.
Release dates are publicly available in the release calendar of the NSI.
In case of changes of release dates the release calendar is updated continually.
8.2. Release calendar access
The release calendar is publicly available on the website of the NSI.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Main results of road transport statistics are available free of charge to all users. More detailed results (e.g. border crossings or distance classes) can be obtained with subscription. Fee-based special analysis can be requested by all users.
Next to the release calendar users are informed of press releases if subscribed to a specific newsletter.
On the date of release, road transport statistics is available to all users at the same time.
Road transport statistics are published quarterly 150 days (five months) after the end of the reference quarter with being preliminary until publishing the annual results.
Additional there are also flash estimates for total transport volume and total transport performance, which are published one month after the end of the reference quarter.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The results are published five months (150 days) after the reference quarter and are preliminary until the annual results are published in the form of a press release. The annual press release can be found under this website.
In addition, flash estimates for total transport volume and total transport performance are published one month after the end of the reference quarter.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Road freight transport statistics results are published on our website.
Furthermore, the results are published in “Verkehrsstatistik”, “Statistisches Jahrbuch”, “Statistische Übersichten” and at irregular intervals in articles in the “Statistischen Nachrichten”.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The results can be found in the STATcube database (Statistics > Transport > Road > Road freight transport).
Main results are available free of charge. For more detailed results (e.g. border crossings) data users have to pay for accessing the data.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Based on legal acts BStatG and FOG, remote access to road freight micro-data may be granted by Austrian Micro Data Center for scientific purposes following certain admissibility rules and safety conditions.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Open data access is available for the main results of road freight transport statistics.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Meta information (definitions, methods, quality, comments) is published in a standard-documentation (en, de) based on national level. Additionally, information on how the results of the d-tables are included (in order to complete road transport statistics on Austrian territory) is provided in this documentation.
Meta information (definitions, methods, quality, comments) is published in a standard-documentation (en, de) based on national level. Additionally, information on how the results of the d-tables are included (in order to complete road transport statistics on Austrian territory) is provided in this documentation.
11.1. Quality assurance
The system follows as far as possible the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System, more precisely Principle 4: Commitment to Quality: Quality policy is defined and made available to the public. An organisational structure and tools are in place to deal with quality management. There are procedures in place to plan, monitor and improve the quality of the statistical processes. Procedures based on quality reporting are in place to internally monitor product quality. Results are analysed regularly and improving actions are undertaken, if needed. There is a regular and thorough review of the key statistical outputs using also external experts where appropriate.
Moreover, in the framework of Statistics Austria Total Quality Management (TQM) approach, Statistics Austria has introduced standard quality reports (standard-documentation) to be produced and kept up-to-date for all statistics. The reports are based on the ESS definition of quality in statistics and follow the European standard quality report and provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.
In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products on the basis of the standard documentation are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. They involve both internal (including the production domain, a peer domain and national accountants) and external experts (such as main users and methodologists). The content and objectives of the feedback meetings concern critical examination of the quality aspects of statistics with particular consideration of the methods and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures; and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts. For road freight transport statistics, the last feedback meeting took place in March 2015.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data quality can be assessed as high. There is a set of validation rules and quality checks put in place, which detect various types of issues. In case of any issues detected, the data providers are contacted to provide explanations or/and revise the data accordingly. Incorrect data concerning a journey within one reference week has to be detected and corrected by the responsible person.
The application used contains automatical corrections for structural data (e.g. reference week, type of vehicle) as well as corrections for performance data (e.g. border crossings, kind of goods, transited countries). Some data is inserted automatically (e.g. type of cargo). The automatical checks finally give out a list of errors and warnings in case of incorrect data.
Errors
Errors refer to very exact defined mistakes so that the person in charge obtains precise advice for the correction. Examples for such errors are:
Mileage cannot be higher at the beginning of the reference week than at the end of it.
Information about the place of loading (or unloading) is missing.
Place of loading is located in Austria and place of unloading is abroad: border crossing is missing.
All errors have to be fixed to be able to complete a report.
Warnings
Warnings shall help to improve the quality of the reports. Warnings refer to data which may be correct but is most likely wrong.
Examples for warnings are:
Is the transited country correct?
The difference between kilometers driven, calculated on basis of the distance matrix, and the reported kilometers based on the odometer reading, is quite high.
The journey could partly have been performed overseas (RORO).
In general it is possible to complete the report without fixing the warnings. Nevertheless, a super advisor will be informed automatically and has to recheck the report.
Overall there are nearly 100 errors and warnings.
Imputation of empty journeys
Although the Austrian questionnaire is asking for empty journeys, they are often missing. In most cases this is not a problem because it is possible to impute these missing empty journeys. For example there is a laden journey from place A to place B. The next journey of this truck, which is reported by the respondent, is also a laden journey which goes from place C to place D. In this case an empty journey between place B and place C is imputed automatically, because it is most likely that the respondent forgot to report this journey or he minimised respondents burden by himself.
After transmitting data to Eurostat via EDAMIS (Electronic Data Files Administration And Management Information System), Eurostat performs full plausibility checks before bringing data together to the European Consolidated Road Goods Transport Statistics. These plausibility checks are described in detail in the Road freight transport methodology manual.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The key users of road transport statistics are:
Ministry Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure.
Universities and research institutions.
Economic chambers and similar institutions.
Private users interested in road freight transport statistics.
Data on road transport statistics of national companies provides an important basis for decision-making of politics, society and economy in the context of the development of transport projects. Additionally, data referring to road freight transport on the Austrian territory, which is based on the European Consolidated Transport Statistics, allows an overview of the traffic on Austrian roads and completes data.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
In autumn 2021 Statistics Austria conducted a user satisfaction survey with 196 experts on a voluntary basis. Although there was no user survey especially on road freight transport statistics, four questions concerning transport statistics in general were included. Users showed a high satisfaction with actuality, accuracy, comparability and quality of transport data. Also, feedback from the Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, universities and the Economic Chambers indicates a good level of satisfaction regarding data coverage and availability of these statistics.
12.3. Completeness
The data collection on road transport statistics follows the provisions of Regulation 70/2012. All variables are provided including the voluntary variable - empty journeys.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy of the road transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
Article 4 of Regulation 70/2012 defines the accuracy of the results of road transport statistics in order to receive data of accuracy which allows providing comparable, regularly, coordinated, reliable and complete information.
Regulation 642/2004 defines the accuracy requirements concerning the percentage standard deviation as following:
Annual estimates for tonnes, tonne kilometers, laden kilometers for road goods transport may have a percentage standard error not higher than +/- 5% (95% confidence interval).
For Austria, these requirements have been fulfilled in the past and are still undershot.
In 2016 the combined time- and vehicle based sample survey has been improved. To optimize the sample survey, the sample mass was divided to new stratums: load capacity class (derived from total load capacity of all vehicles registered at a local unit), transport type derived from NACE, maximum permissible gross vehicle weight, geographic region derived from address. This improvement revision resulted in lower sampling errors.
Example: Sampling errors old and new for 2014
Estimation 2014
Sampling error old
Sampling error new
Increase in efficiency
6.4 Mio.
1,94
1,54
+37%
89,4 Mio. t
1,97
1,91
+6%
636.723 km
1,62
1,51
+13%
From 2016 onwards the sampling errors remain in the same magnitude due to using the improved sample survey.
Sampling errors for laden journeys, tonnes and tonne kilometres 2018 and 2019:
Laden journeys
Tonnes
Tonne kilometres
2018
2019
2018
2019
2018
2019
± 1,6
± 1,9
±2,0
±2,3
±1,6
±2,0
13.3. Non-sampling error
Quality of data sources
The road transport statistics is a primary statistical survey where data sources are the owners of the vehicles. Incorrect or incomplete information concerning journeys within the reporting weeks have been reduced by using more and more electronical reports. Errors and warnings have been implemented and help to avoid wrong data.
The responsible persons motivate the respondents via telephone to provide data of high quality in time. The reworking of data via a java application including extensive plausibility checks help to remove incorrect information. Incomplete reportings are completed through personal contact and also by the high experience of the staff.
Coverage
The relevant vehicles are taken from the Austrian vehicle register, which is transmitted to Statistics Austria on a daily basis. These vehicles are assigned to the local units of the Austrian business register, which is conducted by Statistics Austria and includes the complete and current addresses of the respondents. By using these two data sources the coverage for the road transport survey is good.
Unit-Nonresponse
The Unit-Nonresponse includes reports which cannot be considered for the data collection due to a very late or - in spite of an administrative penalty - refused data transmission. For missing data the extrapolation weight is adapted.
Item-Nonresponse
Missing information concerning the vehicles can be excluded due to the basic information coming from the vehicle register and the statistical business register.
Information concerning trailers has to be provided by the respondents. Missing characteristics are completed by using an internal data set or by asking the respondents.
Missing information concerning the tranport performance are completed as far as possible by the staff. Furthermore the electronical questionnaires delimit incomplete and incorrect reportings.
14.1. Timeliness
Data is released for each quarter five months (150 days) after the end of the reference quarter. Data for quarters are preliminary.
When new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets.
14.2. Punctuality
Road freight data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period, as specified in the Regulation (EU) 70/2012.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Since a similar survey methodology - based on the Road freight transport methodology - is used in all countries, comparability to other countries is good.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Road transport statistics is comparable from 1995 over time with to respect a time break in 2006. The sampling procedure has been changed effective January 1st, 2006 from an enterprise based survey to a vehicle based survey and has been kept since then.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Road transport statistics of vehicles registered in Austria is difficult to compare with statistics of other transport modes due to the nationality principle used for road transport statistics and the territory principle used for the other transport modes. In Austria, the results of the D-tables provided by Eurostat are used to be able to receive a comprehensive presentation of transport statistics on the Austrian territory. Therefore it is possible to compare these results with the results of the transport modes Rail, Inland Waterways, Air and Pipelines (Modal Split).
It has to be taken into account that road transport statistics is based on a sample survey other than the other transport modes which are based on full surveys.
15.4. Coherence - internal
As from 1999 data sets provided to Eurostat are consistent. Rounding differences between tables A2 and A3 and also between quarterly and annual results may occur.
Slight differences between results being published national and on European level may occur for tonne kilometers due to different calculation methods.
The size (in terms of vehicles) of the local units is considered when drawing a sample. Small local units do not have to report as often as bigger local units in order to reduce burden on them. Based on the change from an enterprise based survey to a vehicle based survey in 2006 the burden on respondents was reduced by more than 84%. In 2024, burden was at 14 190 hours to report the requested information of about 26 000 vehicles in the sample survey.
Respondents have the possibility to report electronically using the web form "eQuest-Web" or an electronic excel-sheet which can be downloaded, completed and finally uploaded again. Moreover, since 2020, a simplified web form can be used by respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The results are published quarterly 150 days (five months) after the end of the reference quarter and are preliminary until publishing the annual results. Revisions are performed if some reports of respondents have been delayed and usually cause only very small corrections. In case of any data change in the statistics after the annual results have been published, the public is informed in a form of an official notice (in case of wrong data in the press release) or footnotes (in case of pdf publications or online tables).
17.2. Data revision - practice
The policy described in 17.1 is fully implemented.
18.1. Source data
Sampling register used for the survey
Name of register:
Vehicle-Register and Statistical Business Register (URS).
Name of organisation who maintains the register:
Vehicle Register: Austrian motor vehicle liability insurance.
Business Register: Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich / Statistics Austria.
Frequency of update:
Vehicle Register: Continuously.
Business Register: Continuously.
Frequency of access to draw the samples:
Once a quarter.
Arrangements for accessing the register:
Access to the vehicle register of the Austrian motor vehicle liability insurance is regulated in §40b Abs. 10 and §47 Abs. 1a of the Kraftfahrgesetz 1967.
The vehicle liability insurance has to grant Statistics Austria electronic access to all data necessary for the compilation of statistics on the national vehicle inventory.
Information obtained from the register:
Vehicle Register: Bundesland (Federal State), registration office, vehicle registration number, vehicle identification number, registration date, type of vehicle, empty weight, load capacity, maximum permissible weight, link to BR.
Business Register: Enterprise number (link to VR), name of enterprise, address, NACE.
Stratum: Load capacity class (derived from total load capacity of all vehicles registered at a local unit), transport type (“transport on own account / for hire or reward “, derived from NACE), maximum permissible gross vehicle weight, geographic region derived from address.
Procedure for reminders:
First reminder: 2 weeks after the surveyed week.
Second reminder: 5 weeks after the surveyed week.
Penalty procedure: starts 7 weeks after the second reminder.
The response rate is adequate.
The survey is obligatory, and respondents that do not complete the survey have to face legal fines.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
The survey is carried out throughout the entire year.
The time period for collecting data on each statistical unit is one week. 26 000 vehicles are sampled through a sample survey based on the size of the local unit, the mode of transport (transport for hire or on own account), the local assignment and class of size of the vehicle. Depending on these categories in principle respondents have to report at most either for one week per year in four years, or for one week per each quarter of a year. Data are then extrapolated to receive results for the reference periods (quarters).
18.3. Data collection
Sampling methodology
Statistical unit:
Tractive vehicle, Local unit.
Types of units excluded:
Excluded are local units with NACE 8425 (Fire brigade), 8553 (Driving schools), 9700 and 98xx (Private household), 9499 (Other membership organisations n.e.c.) and 9900 (Extraterritorial organisations and bodies).
Agricultural vehicles, vehicles of regional administrative bodies and foreign organisations and military vehicles.
Lorries with load capacity less than 2 tonnes.
Vehicles older than 30 years.
Time unit:
1 week.
Time unit of quarter 1 of 2024 included in the survey:
All of quarter 1.
Stratification:
The stratification of the survey is based on the load capacity class of the local unit at which the vehicle is registered, transport type, maximum permissible weight and geographic region.
Recording of weight of goods:
A2: gross-gross-weight.
A3: For containers (not swap bodies or pallets) a separate record for the container (with tare weight of the container, type of goods = 16) and the load (gross-weight) is produced. For swap bodies and pallets the gross-gross weight is reported directly.
Recording journey data sent to Eurostat:
Single stop: Only the most common type of good is recorded for a single stop journey.
For multi stop journeys it is assumed that either only loading or unloading occurs. It is not possible to report mixed journeys on which both - loading and unloading - occurs. For multi-stop journeys with equal or less than 5 stops, each loading/unloading operation is recorded separately.
For multi-stop journeys with more than 5 stops, the simplified reporting recommended by the manual is used - total weight, total distance, number of stops.
Estimation of maximum permissible laden weight:
Exact data is available.
Calculation of weighting factors:
For calculating the weighting factor the year is subdivided into 12 periods (z). Each period contains k weeks, where k is 4, except for each third period where it is 5. The weighting factor in each stratum h is calculated as k times the quotient of the number of all vehicles Fh of stratum h divided by the number of responding vehicles fhz in period z.
Optional variables covered:
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO).
vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (YES).
vehicle empty kilometres (YES).
A2. Journey-related variables:
axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES).
place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (PARTIALLY – Only RORO with ship).
place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (PARTIALLY – Only RORO with ship).
Degree of loading: situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (YES).
A3. Goods-related variables:
type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES).
Environmental impact-related variables: none.
18.4. Data validation
National level :
Since 2014 data on road transport statistics are checked automatically using a java-application in which more than 100 plausibility checks have been implemented. Structural data (e.g. reporting week, identification number of the local unit, year of first admission of the vehicle, number of axles...) are being corrected fully automatically.
Performance data (e.g. weight of cargo, empty journeys, place of loading/unloading, border crossings, transited countries, type of cargo...) are automatically corrected or listed as errors or warnings.
Errors refer to exactly defined fields and deliver precise hints for the employees how to be corrected. All errors have to be fixed to be able to finalize a report.
Warnings shall help to improve data quality. Therefore, warnings have to be checked carefully by the employees. Provided information may seem correct but unlikely due to e.g. the route of the vehicle provided. Respondents might be contacted for clarification. Reports including warnings can be finalized. However, the most experienced staff members are automatically informed to recheck or confirm such reports.
Empty journeys basically have to be reported by the respondents. Nevertheless, often these information is missing in the transmitted questionnaires. In such cases journeys are put in a logical order. If empty journeys are missing between two places, they are imputed by the employees then. In case of pendulum journeys within one postal code empty journeys are also imputed.
From Eurostat :
Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then checked and validated by EUROSTAT (verification of many different codes used (NUTS 3, numeric or alphabetic variables) correctness of linked questionnaires in the different dataset, etc). Detected errors are then reported back to the data sender with the request for correction, this is an iterative process until at least 99.5% of all data records are validated and loaded in the database.
18.5. Data compilation
After various plausibility checks the data received from the local units are compiled quarterly following the structure of data sets required by Regulations (EU) 70/2012 and (EC) 642/2004.
Data is validated as described in "18.4 data validation". In cases of unit non response data is corrected by adjusting the grossing weight. The grossing weight is determined for each vehicle and then calculated for each of the 25 strata and for each time period. For the yearly extrapolation a distinction is made for 13 time periods which consists of four successive weeks. For the quarterly extrapolation a distinction is made for 3 time periods whereof the first and second period consists of four weeks and the third one consists of five weeks. Adjustments analogous to the yearly extrapolation have to be performed.
For the calculation of tonne kilometers a distance matrix has been created in order to determine kilometers driven. A detailed description concerning the distance matrix used was released in the Austrian Journal of Statistics, 2014, Vol 43, No.1 and can be looked up in this webpage.
18.6. Adjustment
Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.
No comments.
The data collection is performed using a sample survey which is carried out following the nationality principle, i.e. road freight vehicles registered in Austria are surveyed. More precisely, road tractors and lorries with a load capacity of at least 2 tonnes are included. The basic population for the sample survey covers about 69 000 vehicles. Thereof a stratified sample of 26 000 vehicles is drawn according to load capacity classes, regional classification of the place of work (Vienna/rest of Austria), size classification resp. category of the vehicle and type of transport (hire or reward/own account). For the 26 000 vehicles it is obligatory to report all journeys for one week. The vehicles are assigned to the local units of employment – not to the enterprises – due to the fact that information about the journeys and the carried goods is available at these locations. In total there are about 7 200 local units of employment and 6 800 enterprises affected yearly which have to report a maximum of four weeks per year.
The basis for the sample survey are the Vehicle Register (for vehicles) and the Statistical Business Register (for local units).
The statistics are compiled and transmitted quarterly to Eurostat by the National Statistical Institute of Austria (Bundesanstalt Statistik Austria) on a quarterly basis. The data collection is based on the following legal acts:
National:
Bundesgesetz über die Bundesstatistik (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000), idF: BGBl. I Nr. 136/2001, BGBl. I Nr. 71/2003 (Novelle des Bundesstatistikgesetzes 2000 im Rahmen des Budgetbegleitgesetzes 2003), BGBl. I Nr. 92/2007 und BGBl. I Nr. 125/2009.
BGBl. Nr. 142/1983: Bundesgesetz vom 21. Februar 1983 über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienenverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienenverkehrsstatistikgesetz).
BGBl. Nr. 393/1995: Verordnung des Bundesministers für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr über statistische Erhebungen im Bereich des Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrs (Straßen- und Schienengüterverkehrsstatistik-Verordnung) idF: BGBl. II Nr. 119/2005.
BGBl. Nr. 63/1952: Bundesgesetz vom 27. März 1952 über die gewerbsmäßige Beförderung von Gütern mit Kraftfahrzeugen (Güterbeförderungsgesetz), wieder verlautbart durch Bundesgesetz BGBl. Nr. 593/1995, idF: BGBl. I Nr. 32/2002 (relevant §17 Abs. 2 Punkt 5 und Abs.7).
EU:
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road.
Regulation (EC) No 6/2003 Commission Regulation concerning the dissemination of statistics on the carriage of goods by road.
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES)
vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (YES)
A2. Journey-related variables:
place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (NO)
A3. Goods-related variables:
type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES)
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual:
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods. Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country by a vehicle registered in that country. International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries. Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country. Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle. Place of loading/unloading of a goods road vehicle on another mode of transport.
Place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the goods road motor vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the goods road motor vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the goods road transport vehicle and the local unit (a site of a company, as identified in the national business register).
As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information.
Goods vehicles registered in Austria.
Data is collected on a quarterly basis and transmitted to Eurostat five months after the end of each reference period (quarters).
Overall accuracy of the road transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
Article 4 of Regulation 70/2012 defines the accuracy of the results of road transport statistics in order to receive data of accuracy which allows providing comparable, regularly, coordinated, reliable and complete information.
Regulation 642/2004 defines the accuracy requirements concerning the percentage standard deviation as following:
Annual estimates for tonnes, tonne kilometers, laden kilometers for road goods transport may have a percentage standard error not higher than +/- 5% (95% confidence interval).
For Austria, these requirements have been fulfilled in the past and are still undershot.
The time unit of measure for Austria is one week for which the local units have to report all their journeys (laden or empty) performed by selected vehicles. The local units have to report at most for either one week every four years (load capacity of the local unit below 15 t) or one week for each quarter every year (load capacity of the local unit more than 15 t), depending on the size (in terms of vehicles) of the local unit.
Following data are collected: number of journeys (laden or empty), place of loading or place of unloading, weight of goods (in kilograms), transit countries, border crossings, type of goods, dangerous goods, type of cargo and number and type of containers.
The respondents have to report the places of loading/unloading for each journey resp. the starting point and end point in cases of unladen journeys. Additionally, in one of the three electronic questionnaires they can also report vehicle kilometers.
If only places of loading/unloading are reported, the vehicle kilometers are calculated by using a distance matrix created by Statistics Austria.
Data is transmitted to Eurostat according to the legal act.
After various plausibility checks the data received from the local units are compiled quarterly following the structure of data sets required by Regulations (EU) 70/2012 and (EC) 642/2004.
Data is validated as described in "18.4 data validation". In cases of unit non response data is corrected by adjusting the grossing weight. The grossing weight is determined for each vehicle and then calculated for each of the 25 strata and for each time period. For the yearly extrapolation a distinction is made for 13 time periods which consists of four successive weeks. For the quarterly extrapolation a distinction is made for 3 time periods whereof the first and second period consists of four weeks and the third one consists of five weeks. Adjustments analogous to the yearly extrapolation have to be performed.
For the calculation of tonne kilometers a distance matrix has been created in order to determine kilometers driven. A detailed description concerning the distance matrix used was released in the Austrian Journal of Statistics, 2014, Vol 43, No.1 and can be looked up in this webpage.
Sampling register used for the survey
Name of register:
Vehicle-Register and Statistical Business Register (URS).
Name of organisation who maintains the register:
Vehicle Register: Austrian motor vehicle liability insurance.
Business Register: Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich / Statistics Austria.
Frequency of update:
Vehicle Register: Continuously.
Business Register: Continuously.
Frequency of access to draw the samples:
Once a quarter.
Arrangements for accessing the register:
Access to the vehicle register of the Austrian motor vehicle liability insurance is regulated in §40b Abs. 10 and §47 Abs. 1a of the Kraftfahrgesetz 1967.
The vehicle liability insurance has to grant Statistics Austria electronic access to all data necessary for the compilation of statistics on the national vehicle inventory.
Information obtained from the register:
Vehicle Register: Bundesland (Federal State), registration office, vehicle registration number, vehicle identification number, registration date, type of vehicle, empty weight, load capacity, maximum permissible weight, link to BR.
Business Register: Enterprise number (link to VR), name of enterprise, address, NACE.
Stratum: Load capacity class (derived from total load capacity of all vehicles registered at a local unit), transport type (“transport on own account / for hire or reward “, derived from NACE), maximum permissible gross vehicle weight, geographic region derived from address.
Procedure for reminders:
First reminder: 2 weeks after the surveyed week.
Second reminder: 5 weeks after the surveyed week.
Penalty procedure: starts 7 weeks after the second reminder.
The response rate is adequate.
The survey is obligatory, and respondents that do not complete the survey have to face legal fines.
Road transport statistics are published quarterly 150 days (five months) after the end of the reference quarter with being preliminary until publishing the annual results.
Additional there are also flash estimates for total transport volume and total transport performance, which are published one month after the end of the reference quarter.
Data is released for each quarter five months (150 days) after the end of the reference quarter. Data for quarters are preliminary.
When new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets.
Since a similar survey methodology - based on the Road freight transport methodology - is used in all countries, comparability to other countries is good.
Road transport statistics is comparable from 1995 over time with to respect a time break in 2006. The sampling procedure has been changed effective January 1st, 2006 from an enterprise based survey to a vehicle based survey and has been kept since then.
