Cough syrup can cost driver's license

TÜV: cough syrup can cost driver's license

11/24/2011

If you drink cough syrup because of a cold, you may lose your driver's license. TÜV Süd drew attention to this. Lawmakers make no distinction between prescribed medicines and drunk driving.

The case law makes no difference between drugs and drugs at the wheel, warns the TÜV Süd. „Many motorists had to pay a fine or have had to give up his driving license because he had actually taken harmless cold or cough medicine“. Many drugs can namely the ability to ride enormously limit and cause traffic law penalties, as a spokesman for the TÜV stressed.

In particular, this applies when motorists drive snake lines due to the intake of flu remedies or cough syrup and thereby cause a traffic accident. The victims threaten sometimes high fines, driving bans and in the worst case, even a prison sentence. The experts of the TÜV therefore advise patients to inquire about possible restrictions on their ability to drive before consuming the drugs in the pharmacy or the doctor. Alternatively, specific information on possible impairments can also be found on the drug package leaflet.

Also actually harmless drugs affected
What many do not know: Even harmless medicine for cough, body aches or headaches can reduce the reaction time and make the driver tired. It should be noted that the multiple intake and the combination with other means can produce a potentiation of the drug, as the auditors warned. According to surveys of the traffic authorities, every fourth accident in Germany is caused by taking medicines. Anyone who steers a vehicle despite the influence of medication and is subsequently involved in an accident usually receives at least one complicity. (Sb)

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