Autobahn reckless driver imprisoned

I dont get this whole Rolf Fisher story. The woman had no bussiness to be in the left lane. Rolf was not driving exceptionally fast on the autobahn. The 8 month imprisonment is a hard punishment for just flashing the lights. If all people in US would be sent to prison for flashing lights, then we would have a lot of convicted felons. It is a sad story, what happened to Rolf, as his life and career got ruined. I feel sorry for Rolf. I'm angry at the woman, who by her inconsiderate actions destroyed 2 lives.

Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.

x5918 wrote:

I dont get this whole Rolf Fisher story. The woman had no bussiness to
be in the left lane. Rolf was not driving exceptionally fast on the
autobahn. The 8 month imprisonment is a hard punishment for just
flashing the lights. If all people in US would be sent to prison for
flashing lights, then we would have a lot of convicted felons. It is a
sad story, what happened to Rolf, as his life and career got ruined. I
feel sorry for Rolf. I'm angry at the woman, who by her inconsiderate
actions destroyed 2 lives.

Frank F. Matthews wrote:
Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.

No surprise. In Germany you can be heavily fined just for arguing with a
traffic warden.

Am Tue, 30 Aug 2005 07:14:03 +0100 schrieb mike o'sullivan:

Frank F. Matthews wrote:
Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.

No surprise. In Germany you can be heavily fined just for arguing with a
traffic warden.

Thats not true. Why should you be fined?

It's also not forbidden to flash lights at someone on the Autobahn if you
want to pass, it's perfectly legal. You just have to keep enough
safety-distance, which in the "Rolf"-case was probably not so.

Regards,

Frank

mike o'sullivan wrote:
Frank F. Matthews wrote:

Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.


No surprise. In Germany you can be heavily fined just for arguing with a
traffic warden.

Correction. You can be heavily fined for insulting a police officer.

Am Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:45:53 +0200 schrieb Tom Peel:

mike o'sullivan wrote:
Frank F. Matthews wrote:

Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.


No surprise. In Germany you can be heavily fined just for arguing with a
traffic warden.

Correction. You can be heavily fined for insulting a police officer.

Long lasting urban legend. There is no such thing like "Beamtenbeleidigung"
in Germany.

Yes, you get a fine if you insult a policeman. You probably get the same
fine if you insult a normal person (considered you have a witness). Depends
on lots of circumstances.

But in the law there is absolutely no difference if the insulted person is
some kind of law inforcement official or just a normal pedestriean. Just
the police maybe have a bit better cards in the courtroom, if it comes down
to credibility.

If you call a shop-owner an Idiot it can also get expensive for you ;-)

Regards,

Frank

Frank Hucklenbroich wrote:

Am Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:45:53 +0200 schrieb Tom Peel:


mike o'sullivan wrote:

Frank F. Matthews wrote:


Gee 8 month imprisonment for just pulling up safely behind at a
respectable distance and flashing his lights once or twice. They are
death on flashers in Germany.


No surprise. In Germany you can be heavily fined just for arguing with a
traffic warden.

Correction. You can be heavily fined for insulting a police officer.


Long lasting urban legend. There is no such thing like "Beamtenbeleidigung"
in Germany.

Yes, you get a fine if you insult a policeman. You probably get the same
fine if you insult a normal person (considered you have a witness). Depends
on lots of circumstances.

But in the law there is absolutely no difference if the insulted person is
some kind of law inforcement official or just a normal pedestriean. Just
the police maybe have a bit better cards in the courtroom, if it comes down
to credibility.

If you call a shop-owner an Idiot it can also get expensive for you ;-)

Regards,

Frank

I rather doubt whether a shop-owner would bring a prosecution, whereas
the police will always prosecute. Further, the courts hand out severe
punishment specifically for insults against police officers acting in
the course of duty. A recent famous instance was Stefan Effenbergs
100,000 euro fine for calling a police officer an arsehole.
Still better than being shot or beaten up though, as might happen in
other countries.

Am Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:18:26 +0200 schrieb Tom Peel:

I rather doubt whether a shop-owner would bring a prosecution, whereas
the police will always prosecute.

ACK. Though it sometimes still happen that private people press
prosecution.

Further, the courts hand out severe
punishment specifically for insults against police officers acting in
the course of duty. A recent famous instance was Stefan Effenbergs
100,000 euro fine for calling a police officer an arsehole.

NACK, in German law they are sentenced to pay "Tagessätze" - that is the
equiavalent of what you earn in one day. For "Beleidigung" (=insult) you
get something between 10 and 40 "Tagessätze". For someone who earns lots of
money, like a football-pro, that can be easily a 100.000 EUR, for an
average worker its more like 2000 - 3000 EUR.

So there is no fixed "fee" for things like insult - it really depends on
your income.

Still better than being shot or beaten up though, as might happen in
other countries.

Yep, though I wouldn't guarantee that - if you insult a police-officer they
would probably still take you to the station in a rather rough manner. Not
worth trying it ;-)

Regards,

Frank

I dont get this whole Rolf Fisher story. The woman had no bussiness to
be in the left lane. Rolf was not driving exceptionally fast on the
autobahn. The 8 month imprisonment is a hard punishment for just
flashing the lights. If all people in US would be sent to prison for
flashing lights, then we would have a lot of convicted felons. It is a
sad story, what happened to Rolf, as his life and career got ruined. I
feel sorry for Rolf. I'm angry at the woman, who by her inconsiderate
actions destroyed 2 lives.

You are not Rolf Fischer himself?

Flashing headlights is permitted, if you want to warn somebody. Tailgating
is an offence, it is considered as "versuchte Nötigung" (attempted
constraint, bullying or the like) even if it does not lead to an accident.

Several of Fischer's statements in court were later found out to be 200%
false. As a defendant, Fischer was not obliged to tell the truth in court,
but his false statements surely did not make a good impression. Acoording to
the verdict, Fischer did drive exceptionally fast and his behaviour did lead
to an accident with two dead people. So we are not talking about flashing
lights, but accidental homicide.

A top speed of 130 kph on German motorways would be wise. Some years ago I
drove on US freeways with a 55 mph limit, and it was so easy to drive, even
in a unfamiliar car.

Turan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...19/wbahn19.xml
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Fischer
http://www.n24.de/boulevard/nus/inde...70615321902602

Correction. You can be heavily fined for insulting a police officer.

The best example for this is the late Nürnberg grocer woman Gunda Herbst,
who was fined some 5000 marks (2500 Euros) for addressing a police officer
in the familiar "Du" form. The English equivalent would have been to address
him with his first name.

Turan