A Norwegian man who “drove” 2m after accidentally releasing his car’s hand brake while fumbling drunk got a stiff fine and a 15-day suspended jail sentence, Norway’s supreme court said on Thursday.
Jarle Torgeir Kjoerren (46) got into his BMW while drunk with a blood alcohol level of 1,8g — several times the 0,2g legal limit in Norway — and started the engine in order to switch on the light in the car so he could find cigarettes in the glove box.
The country’s highest court judged that the car had been “driven” for the 1,5m to 2m over which it rolled when the man accidentally released the handbrake, according to a text of the judgement released on Thursday.
“It was an accidental violation of the road-traffic code … which posed hardly any true risk,” the four judges said in their judgement.
Kjoerren’s sentence was therefore softened to a one-year driving ban — down from the two-year ban usual in Norway, where drunk driving is heavily penalised — plus a suspended sentence and 20Â 000-kroner ($3Â 240) fine. — AFP