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Unclear limit: Marijuana driving should remain prohibited, but the current strict limit cannot be justified with road safety
Photo: Jason Doiy / iStockphoto / Getty Images
The German Traffic Court Day has recommended to the legislature to increase the THC limit in road traffic.
The limit value currently applied should be increased "appropriately", the committee announced on Friday in Goslar.
A specific number was not given.
The current limit is one nanogram of THC per milliliter of blood serum.
Values of three or five nanograms were mentioned in the discussion.
Last year, the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag failed with the motion to set a maximum value of ten nanograms, as in Canada.
In principle, the consumption of alcohol and cannabis and participation in road traffic should be separated from each other, explained the traffic court day.
According to the current state of science, no comparable limit values could be set for cannabis in criminal and administrative offense law.
The current limit value for cannabis is so low that it allows proof of consumption, but does not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to whether road safety is affected.
In practice, this means that those affected would be sanctioned “to an unreasonable extent” for whom a reduction in driving safety cannot be justified from a scientific point of view, the committee criticized.
In the past few days, an increase in the THC limit value had been discussed at the traffic court day.
The committee's recommendations are often taken into account in politics when drafting new laws.
In its coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition had agreed on the controlled sale of cannabis.
So far, opinions have differed as to whether the THC limit when driving should also be increased.
Strict liability for e-scooters
In addition, the traffic court recommended that e-scooters and other slow vehicles should be subject to strict liability.
This type of vehicle, which can travel between six and 20 kilometers per hour, will be used more frequently in the future.
In addition, the traffic space is narrow, so that their risk potential is high.
An exception to strict liability is no longer justified.
The same should apply to agricultural and forestry motor vehicles as well as construction vehicles and other self-propelled machines that can drive a maximum of 20 kilometers per hour.
More space for the bike
The committee also spoke out in favor of increasing safety for cycling.
For this purpose, the traffic space must be redistributed in favor of the bicycle.
In order to prevent dangerous behavior, the traffic court called for the regulatory authorities and the police to increase their staff.
More driver safety training courses are to be offered to children and young people.
The trade is called upon to motivate buyers of pedelecs to take part in training courses.
In order to be legally classified as a bicycle, the dimensions and weights of pedelecs, cargo bikes and sidecars would also have to be limited.
ak/AFP