Ampel defect: Cyclists wins a legal dispute against 100 euros!

Ampel defect: Cyclists wins a legal dispute against 100 euros!

A cyclist in Hamburg is at the center of a legal dispute after crossing a red traffic light, but according to her information was defective. Diana Diamant* was on the way home after her late service and waited at the traffic lights, which stayed on red for over five minutes. Since the traffic light did not change after its waiting time, it decided to cross the intersection and was punished with 100 euros. In the first instance, the district court saw this as an intentional red light violation and imposed the fine, since the traffic light was not defective and also had the opportunity to use a nearby pedestrian traffic light href = "https://www.wbs.legal/verkehrrecht/olg-hebet-100-euro-buss-fuer-ueberqueren-rotel-auf-70971/"> WBS.Legal reported.

The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court (OLG), however, highlighted this decision and found that the cyclist suffered from an error. In her opinion, the traffic light was defective, which meant that its actions had been carried out without intent. The OLG said that a permanently red traffic light has no legal effect due to technical disorders and that cyclists are not obliged to deploy in such cases to cross the street as a pedestrian. Both mdr and the OLG stated that the cyclist had treated the situation with the necessary care, and that it was not clear whether the technical device, which would normally activate traffic lights, are also triggered by cyclists could.

queue at the traffic lights

The OLG found that the cyclist is still obliged to consider the general duty of care, even if the traffic light did not work properly. The negotiation must now be accepted again by the district court to clarify whether the behavior of the cyclist was actually negligent. The question of whether the contact loop of the traffic lights could be activated by cyclists should also be examined. This raises further questions about the equal treatment of road users and could have far -reaching consequences for the legal situation of cyclists at traffic lights in similar situations