Emergency call due to driving style

Police stop driver with a blood alcohol level of 4.85

A female driver was driving in an industrial area near Darmstadt (Germany) with a blood alcohol level of almost five. A witness alerted the police because the 37-year-old woman's driving style seemed strange to him.

The police stopped the car a short time later on the A5 near Griesheim. The 37-year-old had been driving her Kia unsafely in an industrial area near Darmstadt. She agreed to a breath test, which revealed a high blood alcohol level of 4.85 per mille. The officers ordered a blood sample to be taken and confiscated her driver's license. The woman will be reported to the police.

Danger to life from four per mille
According to addiction medicine, such extreme levels are usually only reached by severe alcoholics. For other people, just two to three per mille of alcohol in the blood is enough to cause severe symptoms of intoxication and unconsciousness. According to the German Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), there is a danger to life from four per mille. Paralysis and respiratory arrest, for example, can occur.

Anyone who drives with more than 1.1 per mille is liable to prosecution in Germany, as the limit of "absolute unfitness to drive" is considered to have been exceeded. Driving licenses can be revoked from 0.5 per mille. In Austria, the upper limit is also 0.5 per mille.