German Tesla driver has been convicted of adjusting windscreen wipers via touchscreen

A higher German court has finally convicted a driver of a Tesla Model 3 for adjusting the windshield wiper speed via the touchscreen in the car. According to the court, this touchscreen is a restricted electronic device.

The sentence imposed by a lower court and upheld by the Oberlandesgericht in Karlsruhe, Germany, was a one-month driving ban and a fine of 200 euros. That is the result of an accident that happened on March 15, 2019, when a man drove off the road with his Model 3 and hit several trees. That happened when he wanted to adjust the interval speed of his windshield wipers on the center console of his Model 3, because it was then raining heavily.

The Oberlandesgericht places the ‘touchscreen permanently installed in the Tesla’ in the same category as smartphones or other electronic devices that, according to German law, cannot simply be used while driving a car. The broad, specifically German regulation is intended to avoid distractions from the traffic situation, which can be caused by looking at the operation of electronic devices.

According to the court, the driver violated these rules by operating the touchscreen. In addition, according to the Oberlandesgericht, it does not matter what purpose the driver had with touching the touchscreen. Adjusting this setting should only be allowed if the view of the outside traffic is only briefly interrupted. Incidentally, the wipers can be activated via the steering wheel, but adjusting the interval speed must be done via a submenu on the console in the middle. According to the judge, this required more attention than the conventional way of adjusting the speed of the windshield wipers.