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E-scooter rider faces drunk driving charge after being caught at twice legal limit on German motorway

A blood test showed the man had a blood alcohol level of 1.3 promille.

A 27-YEAR-OLD German man faces a charge of drink driving after he was caught riding an electric scooter while under the influence on a motorway.

Police in Cologne said they received numerous calls at around 2:20 am today which reported 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.

The German news agency DPA reported that the man was still holding a beer when he was pulled over, but a police spokesman told AFP 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 a blood alcohol level of 1.3 promille, 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 e-scooters are only allowed to go up to 20 km/ph.

In Ireland, e-scooters are not regulated or defined in legislation, making them illegal to use on Irish roads

But that could change on foot of a recommendation by the Road Safety Authority, which has proposed changes to how the increasingly popular mode of transport is regulated.

© AFP 2019 with reporting from Dominic McGrath.

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    Mute Dublin Cycling
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    Dec 26th 2019, 6:06 PM

    More evidence, as if it was needed, that…
    Wait, what? A drunken e-scooter rider in Germany makes the news here?
    That’s bait…

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    Mute gordon o loughlin
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    Dec 26th 2019, 6:08 PM

    @Dublin Cycling: hang on and I get my fishing rod

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    Mute Ricky Spanish
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    Dec 26th 2019, 6:19 PM

    @Dublin Cycling: what exactly is the ‘Dublin Cycle Campaign’?

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Dec 26th 2019, 6:42 PM

    @Ricky Spanish: Maybe if you searched ‘Dublin cycling campaign’ you could enlighten yourself. But I doubt that is why you asked your question.

    17
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    Mute Jim O Brien - TechBuzz Ireland
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    Dec 26th 2019, 8:11 PM

    @Dublin Cycling: no. Its a great thing to bring awareness to those here who should be also charged. Same as cyclists. Those two groups that think they own the road and have no ideas about traffic lights. Thanks.

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    Mute Type17
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    Dec 26th 2019, 9:02 PM

    @Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: Yawn, change the record…

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    Mute Conoroconnor
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    Dec 26th 2019, 9:09 PM

    @Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: the most self entitled group on our roads and the group that are most guilty of thinking they own the roads are a minority of motorists, like yourself, who come on here and elsewhere criticising cyclists for things that motorists also do, like breaking red lights. There is an epidemic of cars breaking red lights, if you can’t see that you are being wilfully ignorant. Which would you prefer to be hit by, a cyclist breaking a red light or a car doing so? Study after study shows motorists breaking the rules of the road more frequently than cyclists.

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    Mute Pseud O'Nym
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    Dec 26th 2019, 9:56 PM

    @Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: when you were on here a few weeks back supporting that lad who deliberately drove over a cyclist and got away scot-free (cheers Marty Nolan!) you showed what a tool you are. They even deleted your comment. You need to cop yourself on and realise that road safety is everyone’s responsibility.

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    Mute Jim O Brien - TechBuzz Ireland
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    Dec 27th 2019, 1:38 AM

    @Pseud O’Nym: I’m the tool that has a face where as you are just a bigger tool hiding behind a blank image. Good lad

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    Mute Jim O Brien - TechBuzz Ireland
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    Dec 27th 2019, 1:38 AM

    @Type17: stop hiding behind a bonnet faceless.

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    Mute Jim O Brien - TechBuzz Ireland
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    Dec 27th 2019, 1:41 AM

    @Conoroconnor: Nope. You need to study some more and not use data from two sets of lights monitored. Also I cycle and have an escooter I just obey the rules.

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    Mute Sean May
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    Dec 26th 2019, 6:35 PM

    I suppose it could be said that he was “scootered” drunk?

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    Mute Matthew Gorman
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    Dec 26th 2019, 8:33 PM

    He sounds like mighty craic.

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    Mute Ignatius Aflower
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    Dec 26th 2019, 8:50 PM

    What a hero!

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    Mute Rathminder
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    Dec 27th 2019, 8:17 AM

    Real men ride hoverboards drunk on the Autobahn.

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    Mute john fisher
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    Dec 26th 2019, 9:16 PM

    teat

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