Drunk 78-year-old rolls on rim for over three kilometers!

Drunk 78-year-old rolls on rim for over three kilometers!

In recent days there has been a worrying series of accidents in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, in which drunk drivers played a central role. On June 16, 2025, a shocking incident occurred when a 78-year-old woman drove several kilometers on the highway with a flat tire without realizing it. She will probably lose her driver's license forever.

The elderly woman had hit a traffic signal and continued her journey, just crawling along on the rim. She ignored the damage for three kilometers until other road users alerted the police. An attentive driver was finally able to convince the woman to stop on the hard shoulder. A police officer's breath alcohol test showed a shocking 1.5 per mille. The loss of the tire and the circumstances of the incident indicate that the woman may no longer be able to drive permanently due to her advanced age and health restrictions, as Zeit reports.

Drunk driving instructor flees after accident

Not far away, just a few days earlier, another incident occurred that brought public safety in Freiburg into focus. A driving instructor caused an accident during a driving lesson when he grabbed the wheel of his student driver at an intersection and rear-ended a car in front of him. Both women involved sustained minor injuries.

After the collision, the driving instructor fled towards the city center in the driving school car. Passers-by who observed the disaster provided first aid. The police found the driver a little later on the grounds of the Freiburg University Hospital. A breath alcohol test showed a worrying 2.47 per mille, and several empty bottles of hard alcohol were discovered in the car. He also had to give up his driver's license, and the estimated damage is in the low five-figure range, as SWR reports. Peter Lob from the Freiburg Driving Instructors Association described the incident as an “isolated case”, but criticized the rare reviews of the criteria for driving instructor licenses.

Drunk driving remains a source of danger

These incidents highlight the burning issue of drink driving, which remains a major road hazard. Even a value of 0.5 per mille can severely impair the ability to react, and most people involved in accidents who are drunk can be classified as absolutely unfit to drive according to ADAC.

For Germany, figures show that in 2023 over 18,884 people died in alcohol-related accidents, while 198 people lost their lives. What is particularly frightening is that one in fourteen traffic fatalities occurred due to alcohol on the road. The next few years will also show how people with high alcohol levels, like the two drivers affected in Freiburg, unfortunately still endanger safety on our roads.

The combination of alcohol, personality-related factors such as health and age, as well as the subsequent legal consequences from a blood alcohol level of 0.3 per mille only lead to an urgent appeal to all road users: Please drive responsibly and avoid alcohol!