Photo: today.com
Oktoberfest is Germany’s largest food and beer festival, and police had quite the job this year to both keep electric scooters out of the areas destined for festival-goers and to punish those who did ride while under the influence.
Figures released by the German police earlier this week reveal that hundreds of festival-goers in Munich lost their driver’s license after they were caught on e-scooters after one beer too many. Electric scooters were legalized this summer in Germany and recognized as motorized vehicles. You can only ride them on the street or on bicycle paths, and must be over 14 to be able to do so.
Being motorized vehicles, you can get charged with a DUI if you hop on one when you’re intoxicated. And 414 people did just that during Oktoberfest, CNN reports, citing official figures. Of these, 254 lost their driver’s license as a result of the DUI. An additional 32 incidents saw police officers step in to prevent drunk driving riding.
Large cities have trouble with sprawling micromobility services. While they promise to relieve congested traffic, speed up travel times and reduce pollution, they add to the problem of overcrowding in the same areas they’re meant to help. E-scooters end up abandoned on pavements and on the side of streets, and riders tend to show somewhat of a disregard for pedestrian or vehicular traffic and the law.
CNN cites a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that 1 in 3 riders of rental e-scooters were injured on their first ride, while 63 percent of riders then to ride 9 times or less before an injury. The conclusion is that additional training could be necessary for scooter riders, for both their safety and others’.
Add alcohol to the mix, and you can understand why German police were so keen on keeping e-scooters out of Munich for the duration of the famous festival.
Being motorized vehicles, you can get charged with a DUI if you hop on one when you’re intoxicated. And 414 people did just that during Oktoberfest, CNN reports, citing official figures. Of these, 254 lost their driver’s license as a result of the DUI. An additional 32 incidents saw police officers step in to prevent drunk driving riding.
Large cities have trouble with sprawling micromobility services. While they promise to relieve congested traffic, speed up travel times and reduce pollution, they add to the problem of overcrowding in the same areas they’re meant to help. E-scooters end up abandoned on pavements and on the side of streets, and riders tend to show somewhat of a disregard for pedestrian or vehicular traffic and the law.
CNN cites a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that 1 in 3 riders of rental e-scooters were injured on their first ride, while 63 percent of riders then to ride 9 times or less before an injury. The conclusion is that additional training could be necessary for scooter riders, for both their safety and others’.
Add alcohol to the mix, and you can understand why German police were so keen on keeping e-scooters out of Munich for the duration of the famous festival.
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