Referendum Mountain Biking - Free Right of Way

Gerald Simon has done it again. He has followed the official, available paths of citizen participation in this country to bring about a legislative change in his and presumably all cyclists' interests. Since April 22, the so-called initiation procedure for his petition with the short title “Mountain Biking Free RIGHT OF WAY” has been underway.
Together with a friend, whose name was not disclosed, he initiated the process on April 9, demanding a new legal regulation that would allow cycling on forest roads or sufficiently wide paths in the woods – with suitable bicycles (mountain bikes), without the consent of the landowners, and subordinate to pedestrians. Currently, the much-discussed §33 of the Forestry Act of 1975 permits walking in the forest but not cycling without the consent of the owner or road maintenance authority.

Anyone who wants to support this initiative can easily do so online via oesterreich.gv.at using ID Austria. Alternatively, they can head to any municipal office (in statutory cities: magistrate; in Vienna: district magistrate's office) in Austria to sign in person.

From now on, the initiators have 1.5 years to collect the minimum of 8,969 declarations of support required to hold a referendum, which corresponds to one per mille of the total Austrian population. If they succeed, they can then decide on the exact timing of the initiation request. If this is approved, the Federal Ministry will set the eight-day signing period during which the referendum can actually be signed.
And here again the rule applies: If at least 100,000 signatures are collected, the topic must be addressed in the National Council. However, since the declarations of support made during the initial phase are also counted in the final tally of signatures, widespread participation from the very beginning is more than just helpful.

All the more so, as referendums are not legally binding. The extent to which they are implemented is up to the deputies or the results of their consultations, debates, and possibly discussions with experts.
Of course: The greater the support a particular issue has among the population, the less likely it is to be simply waved through in the committee or plenary of the National Council. In this respect, Simon hopes for far more than the ultimately necessary 100,000 signatures, so that the issue is not simply swept under the political carpet.

The soon-to-be 60-year-old has already experienced something like this before. In 2007, he launched a parliamentary citizens' initiative to open up the nationwide network of forest and service roads and spared no effort or preliminary research: gathered statements from all political parties to assess the chances of his request being positively addressed in parliament; collected background information and facts and listed them as substantiated arguments; familiarized himself with the general legal situation on citizen participation and the specific legal situation regarding mountain biking; combed through the RIS (Legal Information System of the Federal Chancellery) for Supreme Court rulings and precedents; and finally created a homepage where all relevant documents, including signature lists, were available for download.
Back then, 21,000 signatures were collected – still analog, gathered among friends and family, through race organizers, bike shops, clubs, and much more, sent by post. The result? Postponements until the end of the black-red legislative period.

What – apart from the initiative itself – was already striking 18 years ago: With the financial advisor and insurance broker living in Hernstein, it wasn’t just a mountain biker from the very beginning who got involved, someone who has been pursuing his beloved sport since the 1980s – mostly illegally out of necessity. The family man, fossil collector, firefighter, skier, and climber is also a trained forester and, as such, knows the forest and the needs of its flora and fauna very well.

Now in 2025, Simon is once again approaching the task with the same meticulousness and willingness to engage in discussions, but with updated methods. Because, as the now political science graduate repeatedly emphasizes on his specially created YouTube channel, still nothing has changed – on the contrary: In a European comparison, the current restrictions seem more outdated than ever, which is more than just disadvantageous for a tourism-oriented country given the growing importance of mountain biking as a leisure and mass sport. Not to mention the health, environmental, transportation policy, or other economic aspects (an overview of his arguments can be found in the accompanying text to the referendum starting on page 3).

Not least for this reason, a change in the law is highly appropriate. “The forestry law must finally be amended so that the recreational benefits of the forest are granted to mountain bikers to the same extent as they are to hikers or ski tourers,” he insists, pointing out that a law from 1975 can hardly explicitly address a piece of sports equipment that only emerged ten years later.
Simon has now institutionalized the necessary long-term effort digitally. On his YouTube channel, he plans to be available for discussions over the next 1.5 years, publish arguments for and against, conduct interviews and discussions, share knowledge about mountain biking and nature, and, of course, primarily promote his petition and seek support for it.