Even if it looks more like a toy, an electric scooter is a motor vehicle and rules apply to its use. Disputes often end up in court. Five examples of fundamental judgments – on trips and rides under the influence of alcohol and drugs, on owner liability and wheelchair replacement.
Electric scooters are still a relatively new phenomenon in German traffic. Nevertheless, they are already busy keeping the courts busy. Some fundamental judgments have already been made. Five examples.
alcohol driving
A good proportion of the cases brought before the courts involve drunk driving. No wonder, since the electric scooters can also be found in large numbers in the party districts of larger cities. Contrary to what their toy-like character might suggest, strict rules apply when it comes to drinking alcohol. In principle, the same alcohol limits apply as when driving a car. As the Bavarian Higher Regional Court has ruled, anyone driving an electric scooter with a blood alcohol content of more than 1.1 is absolutely unfit to drive. Driving with such an alcohol level is therefore a criminal offense and will be punished with a fine and a driver’s license suspension. A visitor to the Oktoberfest was accused of using an e-scooter for the last few meters of the way home and getting into a police check with a blood alcohol content of 1.35. The district court then sentenced him to a fine of 2,200 euros and a three-month driving ban for all types of motor vehicles – including e-scooters. The driver’s license was also confiscated for seven months. The judges did not accept the objection that the scooter should be rated like a bicycle, which would mean that the blood alcohol limit of 1.6 would apply. They referred to the Small Electric Vehicles Ordinance, which has been in force since 2019, which classifies e-scooters, hoverboards, Segways and similar micro-mobiles as motor vehicles. (Ref.: 205 StRR 216/20)
Drove drunk
Leaving the handlebars to a sober buddy isn’t necessarily a solution to getting in trouble with the law after drinking, either. At least not if you don’t hold on to the driver but to the handlebars. The higher regional court also rated this as drunken driving, as a man had to learn who was drunk on one of the electric Mico-Mobile and got into a police check. The responsible district court withdrew his driving license because he had held on to the handlebars while driving. According to his own statements, he had not steered. However, that was not even necessary: ??Regardless of active steering movements, simply holding the driver while driving constitutes driving a vehicle according to the definition of the criminal code, according to the district court in the second instance. It is also irrelevant that only the driver in front had an influence on the speed. The court therefore assessed the holding on to the handlebars as a kind of “complicity”. (Ref.: 4 Qs 368/22)
You can also get stoned without a motor
It is not always so strict in court. The ban on alcohol and drugs does not apply, for example, if your own leg is used as a source of propulsion instead of the motor. This is how the district court of Hildesheim ruled in the case of an e-scooter user caught under the influence of marijuana. After several joints, the man had been on the road with an uninsured scooter whose electric drive had failed. So he used his leg to push himself to move. Luckily for him – since he did not use his vehicle as a “power” vehicle, the court did not consider him to be liable to prosecution. Neither insurance nor a driver’s license is required to ride a non-motorized scooter. Thus, the rules on driving under the influence of drugs are not applicable. (Ref.: 13 Ns 40 Js 25077/21)
No no-fault owner liability
In other respects, too, there are important differences between e-scooters and cars and motorcycles. Motor vehicles need motor vehicle insurance in order to be able to drive on the road. But unlike the car, there is no no-fault owner liability, as a judgment by the District Court of Frankfurt am Main shows. A car owner complained whose parked vehicle had been damaged by an e-scooter. Since the responsible driver could not be identified, the car owner wanted to have the damage reimbursed by the scooter owner’s liability insurance. Without success. An e-scooter is a motor vehicle, but it cannot go faster than 20 km/h. The legislator has not provided for owner liability for such small electric vehicles, as the working group on traffic law of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV) explains the decision. (Ref.: 29 C 2811/20 (44).
No wheelchair replacement
An e-scooter is therefore not a car – and also not a wheelchair replacement. The health insurance company does not have to finance a purchase, as the Bremen State Social Court decided. An 80-year-old man with a walking disability complained. He didn’t want the electric wheelchair suggested by the health insurance company because it wouldn’t have fitted in his car or in his carport. Instead, he applied for the cost of an e-scooter to be covered, which the health insurance company refused. Rightly so, as the court found. An e-scooter is a leisure device and an object of daily use. However, health insurance only has to pay for products that are designed for the needs of the sick and disabled. In addition, the statutory health insurance generally only has to pay if they are asked before the purchase. The senior had already bought the scooter at the time of the application. (Ref. L 16 KR 151/20)
