2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Handicapped people are not protected from driving bans. Anyone caught with alcohol in an electric wheelchair then has to drive the tires again.
The mobility of people with walking disabilities can also be restricted by a court order. Drivers of electric wheelchairs are threatened with a driving ban if they are caught in their vehicle with more than 1.6 per thousand alcohol in their blood. “That seems tough at first, but from the point of view of case law it is not disproportionate if the person concerned can still use a hand-operated wheelchair,” says defense attorney Christian Demuth from Düsseldorf.
Motor vehicle in the sense of traffic law
While the limit of absolute driving incapacity for car and motorcycle drivers is 1.1 per mille, it is seen at 1.6 per mille for cyclists and wheelchair users. This was determined by the Löbau District Court (judgment of June 7th, 2007/5 Ds 430 Js 17736/06) in one of the rather rare decisions on this complex of issues. According to the court, electric wheelchairs are much heavier and more manoeuvrable than bicycles and can therefore appear even more dangerous in the midst of groups of people. On the other hand, they are also much more resistant to overturning and tracking. The court also attested that an electrically powered wheelchair is a motor vehicle in terms of road traffic law.
Nevertheless, wheelchair users do not need to worry about being insubordinately restricted in their freedom of movement. If an accused were to actually lose mobility as a result of a driving ban and no longer be able to carry out their daily business to cover their needs, a driving ban would be disproportionate. Demuth: "Even when it comes to punishments for incorrect behavior, the handicapped must remain in a position to cope with their practical everyday life."
Wheelchair users can be liable to prosecution even if they are less than absolutely unfit to drive - due to relative inability to drive, which starts at 0.1 per mil. "These could be driving errors caused by alcohol, for example, commonly referred to as failure symptoms," warns Demuth. (AG)
