Associated Incidents
A police vehicle tried in vain for minutes to stop a Tesla driver on the A70 in the Bamberg district over a distance of six kilometers. Only after several attempts did the sleepy road user, who now has to answer for endangering road traffic, react.
Constant speed, constant distance: car doesn't stop
The incident on the Autobahn in the direction of Bayreuth happened on Wednesday afternoon: at the Viereth-Trunstadt junction, the police officers decided to stop the car as part of a general traffic check. A spokeswoman for the Upper Franconia police quoted from the mission report when asked by BR. The patrol then drove in front of the car and tried to use warning signals to ask it to stop – but the car kept to its constant speed of 110 kilometers per hour. The distance between the suspect car and the police vehicle also remained unchanged.
When the police pulled up next to the car, they saw that the man was sitting behind the wheel with his eyes closed. Only after repeated horns did the 45-year-old react and follow the officials' instructions. At the Bamberg-Hafen junction, the police officers were finally able to pull the driver out of traffic.
Man is on the road with the weight of the steering wheel - administrative offense
During the check, it turns out that the man had been driving his car with the autopilot mode activated. In addition, he had apparently installed a so-called steering wheel weight while driving, which the officers found in the footwell of the car. This weight should suggest to the driving system that the driver has his hands on the steering wheel. According to the police, the man also showed "typical drug failure symptoms".
Because the driver fell asleep at the wheel, the public prosecutor's office has now filed a complaint against him, according to the Upper Franconia police. In addition, the 45-year-old has to answer for an administrative offense because the weight of the steering wheel means that the operating license has expired. According to the police spokeswoman, there is no explicit requirement that drivers have both hands on the steering wheel according to the road traffic regulations. In the event of an accident without your hands on the steering wheel, however, you will be held legally responsible.