Bicycle, scooter, motorised scooter — different rules everywhere
Anyone who leaves the car behind after a few drinks often reaches for the bicycle or the e-scooter. But there are blood alcohol limits there too — and for the e-scooter of all things they are much stricter than many people think. Bicycles and e-scooters are treated completely differently in law. This article explains which limits apply in each case and why. The <a href="/en/blood-alcohol-calculator">blood alcohol calculator</a> helps you gauge your approximate value.
Bicycle: absolute unfitness to drive from 1.6 per mille
For cyclists the threshold for absolute unfitness to drive is much higher than for cars: 1.6 per mille. From this value you are irrefutably deemed unfit and commit an offence under Section 316 StGB — even without a riding error. The consequences are a fine, an entry in the driver fitness register and often the order of a medical-psychological assessment, the notorious MPU. If the MPU is not passed, you can even lose your car driving licence, although the drunk ride took place on a bicycle.
But note: the 1.6 per mille is only the threshold for absolute unfitness. Below it, too, things can become criminal. From about 0.3 per mille relative unfitness to drive exists if alcohol-related signs of impairment are added — such as swerving or a fall. Then the same criminal consequences apply. So anyone who thinks everything is allowed on a bike is gravely mistaken.
E-scooter: legally a motor vehicle
For the e-scooter the situation is entirely different. Electric micro-vehicles count legally as motor vehicles because they have a motor. This means the same blood alcohol limits apply to them as to cars — and not the higher cyclist values. This surprises many people, but it is settled case law.
Concretely this means: from 0.5 per mille you commit an administrative offence on an e-scooter under Section 24a StVG (gesetze-im-internet.de/stvg/__24a.html) — with a fine, points and a driving ban. From 0.3 per mille a criminal offence for relative unfitness to drive can exist if there are signs of impairment (Section 316 StGB). And the threshold for absolute unfitness on an e-scooter is, as with a car, 1.1 per mille, not 1.6. A point many underestimate: a drunk ride on an e-scooter can just as easily lead to the loss of the car driving licence.
0.0 per mille for novice drivers — on the scooter too
For novice drivers in the probation period and everyone under 21, the strict 0.0 per mille limit under Section 24c StVG (gesetze-im-internet.de/stvg/__24c.html) applies on the e-scooter, exactly as in a car. Because the e-scooter is a motor vehicle, this special rule for young and inexperienced drivers applies in full. Anyone caught tipsy on a scooter during probation risks a fine, one point, an extension of the probation period and a training seminar.
The limits at a glance
In summary: on a bicycle, absolute unfitness to drive is at 1.6 per mille, but relative unfitness is already possible from 0.3 per mille when signs of impairment are present. On an e-scooter the car limits apply: 0.5 per mille administrative offence, 0.3 per mille relative and 1.1 per mille absolute unfitness — plus 0.0 during probation. The big difference arises solely because the e-scooter has a motor and therefore counts as a motor vehicle.
How the calculator helps
The <a href="/en/blood-alcohol-calculator">blood alcohol calculator</a> estimates, using the Widmark formula, roughly where your blood alcohol value might sit after certain drinks. This gives you a feel for how quickly, say, the 0.5 per mille mark for the e-scooter or the 1.6 per mille mark for the bike is reached. What remains crucial: the result is only a rough estimate with considerable uncertainty and makes no statement about whether you are fit to drive.
Conclusion
Bicycles and e-scooters are no free pass for riding after drinking. On a bike it becomes criminal at 1.6 per mille at the latest, and much earlier with signs of impairment. The e-scooter counts as a motor vehicle and is subject to the strict car limits, including 0.0 during probation. The safest rule everywhere remains the same: if you have been drinking, when in doubt you get on neither the bike nor the scooter.