Drunk driver rides e-scooter on German autobahn
A man tests an electric scooter during the event “vision smart city” at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Germany. Image: AFP/Thomas Kienzle
German police on Thursday stopped an inebriated 27-year-old man who was caught riding an electric scooter on a motorway.
Police in the western city of Cologne said they received numerous calls at around 2:20 a.m. reporting a man driving an e-scooter on the hard shoulder of the A4.
“The police located the man within a few minutes and put an end to a dangerous situation,” Cologne police said in a statement.
German news agency DPA reported that the electric scooter rider was still holding a beer when he was pulled over, but a police spokesman told Agence France-Presse he could not confirm that detail.
The rider told police “he ended up on the motorway by accident.” A blood test later showed the man had an alcohol level of 1.3 pro mille, more than twice the legal limit for car drivers.
He now faces a drunk driving charge.
Germany’s Autobahn motorways are famous for their long stretches without speed limitations, although electric scooters are only allowed to go up to 20 kilometers per hour.
The use of electric scooters has mushroomed in Germany in recent months, as in many other countries.
While users hail the ease with which they can zip through cities, critics complain the scooters clutter up streets and are less climate-friendly than they appear.
Electric scooters are banned from motorways but have repeatedly ended up there anyway.
In August, a Frenchman was killed after he was hit by a motorbike while riding an electric scooter on a motorway outside Paris. RGA
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