'Walking a scooter while drunk is a crime': court
Published: 14 Apr 11 16:54 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/33214/20110414/
Sweden's Supreme Court (Högsta Domstolen) has ruled that a teenager in Ulricehamn, in the south west of Sweden, is guilty of drunk driving after pedalling his scooter forward with his feet while inebriated.
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Instead, he decided to pedal it forward with his feet but gave up after a few metres where he subsequently fell off.
Police breathalyser tests showed his alcohol blood levels to be seven times the legal limit. He was later charged with drunken driving.
While the Borås district court acquitted the boy, the Court of Appeal (Hovrätten) later convicted him.
Behind the different rulings was an old Supreme Court ruling from 1958 where a person was charged with drunken driving after going for an inebriated ride on a moped with a faulty engine.
Taking a ride on a broken moped while under the influence was deemed the same as going for a bicycle ride, and led to a Supreme Court acquittal.
While the district court referred to the old ruling as a precedent, the Court of Appeal ruled that scooters of today could not be compared to a 1958 moped.
Therefore the court saw no other choice but to convict the boy of drunken driving.
The Supreme Court also found for the prosecution when the case was heaed in the highest instance following an appeal by the boy’s lawyer.
"Unlike the current case, the previous one concerned a moped with a faulty engine that could also be pedalled," the ruling read.
The court found that the scooter in question had retained its status as a 'motor driven vehicle' and that the boy therefore must be charged with drunken driving.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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Had this story been about a staggering drunkard who the cops left alone because he was walking his moped when they passed by but subsequently turned on and used to run over a baby, I am certain the outrage at the negligent cops would be endless.
1. The craze among attention seeking motorcyclists to remove their silencer and roar around at full throttle "Look at me kids, I'm fat, middle aged and ugly, but heh you can't ignore me when I do this". Desperately sad.
2. Scooter kids riding around without helmets. When they fall off and splatter their brains across the tarmac they'll realise that riding around like this is a very bad idea.
3. Aggressive cyclists riding on pavements oblivious to the fact that its both illegal and dangerous, plus the trend among Stockholm cyclists to slice past any pedestrian attempting to cross or inadvertently stepping onto a cycle path. Yes you have right of way, but not a licence to kill. Try using a bell!
so u better know what to write in an intellectual forum like this where acting stupidly is not authorize
Maybe the Stockholm traffic users should stop the trend of not looking where they walk, drive or bike.
The same moron that walks on the bike lane and is surprised a bike passes him, will also walk on the street in front of a 10 ton truck......and I can tell you....the latter will seriously hurt.
Further I really wonder what your issue is. Do you really mind that there are 3 people in the whole of greater Stockholm that ride a bike? Isn't it better to worry about those thousands of swedes and people that grew up here don't know how to drive a car, but still somehow got a drivers license, somehow choose to drive a big car, and somehow also find it normal to use their phone while doing this.
In no other country swedes would be able to obtain a driver licence legally.
Theoretically right, but practically a dumb idea.
In Sweden it might be not really a problem, but let's take denmark or holland.
If police starts fining drunk people on bikes there is no 'reason' anymore to take the bike instead of a car when you are planning a heavy night out. (and convinced that you are a good driver even when drunk). So fining drunk bikers will increase the number of drunk cardrivers, and for that reason (because I think we can all agree drunk car driving causes much more victims than drunk biking) increase accidents.
Again theoretically you are completely right, but you don't have much practical sense it seems.
Well maybe if half of the population wants to play taxi at 4 in the morning. And if students can afford 250 SEK every weekend for taxi costs. And if taxi's would stop driving far over the speed limits etc. etc.