The gawper ban

Today’s topic is the so-called gawper ban!

In August 2018, an amendment to the Security Police Act came into force, which enables the police to send away gawpers, i.e. onlookers who obstruct the assistance of the emergency services and also interfere with the privacy of the person involved in the accident.

Unfortunately, it happens again and again that uninvolved third parties watch an accident. It is humanly somewhere understandable, since humans are a curious being, but in addition it comes unfortunately also to the fact that these persons often hinder the task forces with their work and this is not acceptable. Furthermore, in my opinion, it is essential to preserve the privacy of the accident victim. For this reason, the Security Police Act has come into force.
This means that gawpers are punished with a fine of up to €500 and in particularly serious cases, or in the event of a repeat offence, may even be sentenced to up to two weeks imprisonment.

It also often happens that a traffic jam forms on the opposite lane after an accident, because onlookers slow down because they want to see exactly what happened. Here, too, it should be noted that abrupt braking without any particular reason, and thus interfering with traffic, is not allowed!