Excuse for control

Alcoholization through homeopathy – does it exist?

His excuse didn't work: the speeding driver was convicted in Wels with an alcohol test. (symbolic image)(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth (Symbolbild))

The police caught a speeding driver in Wels with a blood alcohol level of 0.8. He claimed not to have had anything to drink, but to have consumed alternative remedies. We asked whether such a thing is possible and what other excuses there are.

"I wasn't drinking alcohol, I was taking homeopathic remedies" - police officers hadn't expected such a creative excuse when they caught a speeding driver (58) from Alkoven on Eferdinger Straße in Wels on Wednesday, who was traveling at 130 km/h in the 70 km/h zone. They had subjected the speeding driver to a breathalyzer test due to his impressive flag, which showed a whopping 0.84 per mille. The "fairy-tale uncle" who was caught had to surrender his driver's license.

But would such a thing be possible in principle? 
"He would have to drink a few bottles. With 20 drops, which is the normal dosage, no one could manage that," says the president of the pharmacists' association Thomas Veitschegger from Bad Leonfelden. Herbal extracts are stored in 17 percent alcohol solutions, one such bottle contains 50 milliliters.

The Austrian Society for Homeopathic Medicine replied: "Homeopathic remedies can contain alcohol, which serves as a solvent for the active ingredients and also as a preservative. If a homeopathic medicine is used in accordance with the instructions for use, this cannot have any influence on the measured blood alcohol content. All possible calculations were made: A 50 milliliter bottle of Metavirulent would be roughly equivalent to an eighth of wine!"

Alcohol apparently fires the driver's imagination
There are also plenty of other curious excuses: in 2019, a Russian (29) was caught drunk behind the wheel twice in Freistadt. His excuse: he wanted to have his blood taken in hospital to prove that he wasn't that drunk the first time. He had 1.24 per mille . In 2022, a drunk driver from Linz blamed his lane assistant for an accident. Last year, an intoxicated driver (51) in Gmunden claimed that he had only started his car to charge his cell phone. And most recently, a Mühlviertel mayor excused his drunk driving with a blackout after the floods.

Necessity is the mother of invention
For Rainer Kastner, traffic psychologist at the KFV, this comes as no surprise: "Once you're really in trouble, nobody is at a loss for excuses."