Traffic court docket day: Drunk driving – cyclists needs to be punished way more harshly | EUROtoday

According to the consultants who’ve been discussing the difficulty of alcohol behind the wheel within the conventional lodge “Achtermann” in Goslar in latest days, the matter is evident: biking inebriated in Germany ought to in future be punished extra harshly than earlier than – at the very least if the bike owner in query truly received to grips earlier than setting his bike or e-bike in movement.

“In the light of the existing scientific findings, the alcohol limit in this new fine should be 1.1 per mille of blood alcohol or 0.55 milligrams of breath alcohol,” says a advice from the sixty fourth German Traffic Court Conference, which was held this week in Goslar, Lower Saxony. There is at present a restrict of 1.6 per mille when biking. According to the ADAC, anybody who exceeds this restrict or is clearly not in a position to sit straight on the bike should count on a positive of 30 each day charges, i.e. round one month’s wage, in addition to two factors within the Flensburg site visitors register.

As a punishment for exceeding the brand new 1.1 alcohol restrict for the primary time, Working Group II “Alcoholic on Bicycles and Pedelecs”, which is chargeable for the difficulty, recommends a positive of 250 euros and some extent within the Flensburg site visitors offenders register. In the occasion of a repeat case, in keeping with the committee headed by the presiding decide on the Aachen Regional Court, Matthias Quarch, a medical-psychological examination must also be ordered. In addition, the site visitors court docket recommends a scientific examine that addresses the query of whether or not the alcohol restrict for using heavy Pedelecs, corresponding to cargo bikes, needs to be lowered even additional.

In the Bundestag, whose transport politicians have taken the options from Goslar significantly over the previous a long time and sometimes applied them into the related legal guidelines, at the very least the three governing events CDU, CSU and SPD are discovering it troublesome to react. Although each members of the Union and the Social Democrats have repeatedly advocated harder penalties for biking inebriated up to now, each factions disappeared this Friday.

Neither the Union nor the Social Democrats noticed themselves able to touch upon the suggestions from Goslar. Instead, the CDU and CSU stated that opinions on this difficulty clashed so violently at a gathering of the accountable parliamentary group working group this week that they have been unable to agree on a standard place. The SPD introduced that it would need to remark subsequent Monday.

The opposition events within the Bundestag have been considerably extra decisive. The AfD parliamentary group rejects decreasing the alcohol restrict for cyclists, citing accident statistics. “In the past, the Federal Ministry of Transport has not seen any need for action on new regulations, since the number of accidents in cycling is not increasing and alcohol-related accidents remain constant overall. We consider this consideration to be appropriate,” stated transport coverage spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group Wolfgang Wiehle.

The left-wing faction within the Bundestag involves the alternative conclusion. “The number of cycling accidents is increasing, partly due to faster e-bikes,” stated transport coverage group spokesman Luigi Pantisano. “The Left is therefore calling for a blood alcohol limit of 1.1 when cycling in order to protect cyclists, not punish them.”

The Greens additionally see the advice from Goslar positively. An alcohol restrict for cyclists of 1.1 per mille is mostly supported. “Stricter rules for drunk driving would also make sense,” stated transport coverage spokeswoman for the Green Party parliamentary group Swantje Michaelsen. The police union (GdP) additionally welcomed the suggestions of the site visitors court docket day. The present alcohol alcohol restrict for cyclists is “clearly too high and unnecessarily increases the risk of accidents”.

Ulrich Exner is a political correspondent for WELT and reviews primarily from the northern German states.