Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - According to a court decision, running a red traffic light should not lead to a higher fine simply because the driver was driving an SUV. A deviation from the normal case of fines is only possible if the specific individual case deviates significantly from this, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court decided after a notification on Thursday. It takes more "than the diffuse naming of a vehicle type or model".
An SUV ("Sport Utility Vehicle") is an off-road vehicle-like car that has higher ground clearance and a steeper front end than conventional cars. In the specific case, the district court had imposed a driving ban of one month for a red light violation and the payment of 350 euros instead of the 200 euros otherwise provided for in the catalog of fines against an SUV driver.
The court justified this in addition to the driver's previous exposure to the fact that the box-shaped design and the raised front end of an SUV increased the risk of injury to other road users. The first-instance decision published at the end of June caused a stir.
However, for the SUV driver, the one-month driving ban and the increased fine that the district court had already planned for him remain. Because, according to the Higher Regional Court, the higher fine is justified by the "serious previous exposure" of the driver, who had already been noticed 13 months earlier because of a red light violation. The standard fine, on the other hand, refers “to an unpunished person concerned”. The complaint of the SUV driver was thus rejected, the decision of the Higher Regional Court is not contestable.
