If you drive in Austria you should be aware of a new law effective 1 January 2012 requiring drivers on 2-, 3- and 4-lane highways to make a clear path (Rettungsgasse) for emergency vehicles when a traffic jam forms. Note, you have to make the Rettungsgasse whenever there is a jam, not only when emergency vehicles are trying to get through and even if you know that the jam is not caused by an emergency.

Vienna Expats now has a twitter account - @viennaexpats and invites its users who are also on twitter to follow our twitter account. The twitter account will also be integrated into the Facebook Page - so if you also have a facebook account, remember to like us there at www.facebook.com/ViennaExpats.net - we're also planning to integrate information about events through these two media to help improve your VE experience.

The Großer Festsaal of the Musikverein is the venue for the world famous New Year's Day Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the concert was first held in 1939, it has grown into one of the most renowned concerts in the world, enjoying a comparable reputation to say the Last Night of the Proms among classical music fans. The programme of the concert is dominated by pieces by the various composers from the Strauss family, with the Blue Danube Waltz (An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 to be more correct) by Johann Strauss Jr. and the Radetzky March (Radetzkymarsch Op. 228) by Johann Strauss Sr. being nearly ever-present in the programme. Other Austrian composers also feature frequently, particularly if the New Year sees a special anniversary of some event in their life. In 2009, for example Haydn was included in the programme for the first time. Since 1987 there has been a different conductor every year, with some of the world's leading conductors having conducted the concert in recent years. There are now also increasingly frequently invited guest soloists.

There is now a new service on the Westbahn – the railway line from Vienna’s Westbahnhof to Linz Salzburg and beyond. Westbahn AG, which was set up as a result of EU legislation to start the liberalisation of the rail networks. Westbahn’s service sees hourly services from Vienna to Salzburg, with all trains calling at Hütteldorf, St Pölten, Amstetten, Linz, Wels, and Attnang-Puchheim. Tickets can be bought online, or at no extra charge from on-board train service personnel. WESTclub is their equivalent of the ÖBB’s first class service. There are various promotional fares available and currently the fares offered undercut those of incumbent carrier ÖBB, with the price of a single ticket from Wien Westbahnhof to Salzburg between € 23.80. The service began operating on 11 December 2011.