You probably don’t have to understand what drives young men to keep heating up the same roundabout with souped-up cars. The so-called car posers are more than just a nuisance, with illegal races they endanger the lives of uninvolved road users over and over again. It is therefore understandable that the police are trying everything possible to put an end to their goings-on. And yet the impression that the Ismaning head of department left when he reported on these efforts at the Unterföhring citizens’ meeting is fatal.
He not only complained about how difficult it was for the police to take action against the car posers. He also reported that it was much easier during the lockdown: 42 members of the scene were reported in Unterföhring for violating corona rules such as contact restrictions or distance requirements. The Ismaning police chief confirms an impression that one had to gain again and again during the pandemic: that police officers and in some cases also local politicians have deliberately misused the rigid corona regime to take action against mostly young people, against whom one had nothing else in hand .
The massive restrictions on public life and personal freedoms were probably necessary to protect vulnerable population groups from the virus. But they should have been enforced with more judgment – and only with the aim of fighting the pandemic. Instead, they were used time and again to drive away young people partying who were disturbing the neighbors’ night’s sleep. In the case of the autoposer, it certainly didn’t hit the wrong people. However, a constitutional state must find other means to take action against speeders. How about, for example, a speed limit on the motorway? Unlike many Corona measures, that would not interfere with fundamental rights.