Mühldorf am Inn/Rosenheim – Howling engines at idle, high-revving driving, heavy acceleration and braking: the "car poser scene" sees the streets as its stage again after the lockdown. Yet the reckless driving known as "posing" in city centers causes additional noise and avoidable exhaust fumes, leads to annoyance among passers-by and residents. Police have been standing up to it for years, upgrading their technical and factual skills and seeking to thwart the brazen self-promoters: traffic checks invariably result in fines, points in Flensburg, misdemeanor proceedings and driving bans. The police headquarters of Upper Bavaria South advises to report any obstruction, harassment or endangerment immediately by telephone to the local police station or via the emergency number 110. Even if the outcome of an operation is open and the individual case is always examined, the police depend on the assistance of citizens.
Rosenheim, end of May. In seven days, police pull 58 drivers off the road during speed checks. Most receive a fine. Points in Flensburg. A passenger in Kolbermoor, however, shows less insight, repeatedly interferes with the recording of the data and insults the officers as "stupid birds". The 52-year-old is facing a criminal case for insulting.
Bad Aibling, mid-June. Traffic controls with attention to speeders, tuners and "car posers". The reason for this was complaints about noise pollution caused by loud engine noises and rowdy driving. Five speeders are identified, receive a fine for speeding. Two of the speeders get points in Flensburg and a month driving ban. The police attribute some of the drivers to the local "car poser scene".
Waldkraiburg, mid-June. Traffic control with a view to motor vehicle tampering. Several vehicles are being used on the basis of equipment carried with them. Minor signs of wear and tear are objected to. Officials immobilize two tuned vehicles for various modifications because they significantly affect traffic safety by. Vehicle drivers receive fines, points in Flensburg and notifications to the locally responsible vehicle registration office as part of the administrative offense proceedings initiated.
Waldkraiburg, end of June. During a general traffic control, the officers notice changes in the chassis of the Mercedes of a 24-year-old from Gars am Inn. Since these are not approved by an expert, the operating license is void. Continuation of the journey is prevented. The police headquarters of Upper Bavaria South differentiates between legal. Illegal car tuning as well as car posing. According to press spokesman Martin Emig, legal tuning is "undoubtedly a matter of taste, but away from the controls is not a field of activity for the police". If the area of legality is left with the tuning, possibilities for the police open for the sanction: The concerning receive fine notices, have expenditures for deconstruction and authority journeys. Car posing is again predominantly practiced by young road users, who deliberately disregard traffic regulations with their powerful and sometimes inadmissibly tuned vehicles and are mainly responsible for considerable noise pollution in the cities. About the auto tuning scene in the counties of Mühldorf am Inn. In Rosenheim and in the independent city of Rosenheim, no empirical figures are available to the police headquarters of Upper Bavaria South. According to Emig, the fact that such a "scene" exists is already evidenced by the number of participants and visitors at tuning events in the region. The question about the current size of the corresponding "car poser scene" could not be answered exactly. The experiences of the local services from the last two years showed only that this scene is subject to a constant personnel change and depends very much on the season and the weather: In appearance the Auto-Poser appeared predominantly in the larger cities of the two districts and in the independent city of Rosenheim. Their purpose was to "present" themselves to a large number of other road users. Guiding principle: "See and be seen."
Motor vehicle tampering challenges police
Popular among tuners as well as poseurs are high-end or high-engine vehicles from different manufacturers, primarily German manufacturers. The mechanical changes focus on the landing gear, the wheel/tire combination outside the approved frame, and the distance of the vehicle frame from the ground. Thus, in the case of chassis without a corresponding parts certificate. Without general operating license (ABE) a new installed. When "lowering", a coilover suspension is often used. The basically worse alternative is to shorten the springs.
Problem: electronic interventions. The manipulation of control units or controllers in cars, trucks, motorcycles, eScooters and pedelecs is difficult to detect with the naked eye. For this reason, around one third of the vehicles stopped by the police are impounded in order to prepare an expert report. The costs for fines and the preparation of expert reports are in the four-digit range. Must be borne by those affected. As a result, the vehicle's operating license may expire as a prerequisite for registration. Since the operating license is not automatically reinstated solely by the deconstruction of the tuning measures, the affected party must obtain it again at his own expense.
Problem: tuned flap exhaust systems. Here, at the push of a button, the exhaust flow can be diverted, bypassing significant parts of the exhaust system, resulting in more noise. "However, regulations from the European Parliament could lead to an improvement in this area in the next few years," estimates Emig. But regional initiatives are also changing the situation for supraregional drivers with tuned vehicles. For example, the Austrian state of Tyrol has banned particularly loud motorcycles from driving on certain routes during the period 10. June to 31 for the time being. October 2020 enacted. And the police headquarters of Upper Bavaria South uses a calibratable mobile sound level meter that enables a noise measurement that can be used in court even during the inspection.
Problem: prohibited motor vehicle racing. The on 13. October 2017 came into force "Raserparagraf" (§ 315d StGB) hit particularly the car poser. Even the racing of an individual or fleeing from the police at high speed could fall under the facts of this prargraph. In 2019, 38 cases were reported in this regard in the service area of the police headquarters of Upper Bavaria South. Two prohibited motor vehicle races caused a stir in 2019 and 2020: the car race of 6. July 2019 on the B 15 in the Wasserburg area with seven to eight vehicles involved, as well as that of 6. May 2020 on the B 15 in the Rosenheim area with the seizure of a Ferrari and a BMW. "Particularly the possibility of confiscation of the offence vehicles by the police is an effective extension of the police powers by the § 315d StGB", Emig emphasizes.
Monitoring the "car poser scene
To monitor and combat corresponding phenomena, the investigation group (EG) "Auto-Poser Rosenheim" was founded in 2017. "Without the appropriate specialist knowledge, a control often comes to nothing," explains Emig. The measures are multi-layered and aim to ensure a fundamental change in thinking – both through clarifying discussions and through consistent reporting of offences. The large number of violations detected can be attributed, on the one hand, to the pressure of control, and on the other hand, to the increasing specialized knowledge of the officers. The EC "Auto-Poser Rosenheim" was one component in a bundle of measures that included general traffic controls by all police officers and specialized controls by the traffic services or the control group (KG) motorcycle. Their technical equipment and personnel supplement regional or temporal focus controls. In addition, the "speeding paragraph" has resulted in far-reaching measures that were previously difficult to subsume under the criminal offense of endangering road traffic (Section 315c of the German Criminal Code). "Here, too, the officers had to gain confidence in dealing with the new paragraph, which is made much easier by joint control actions and focus operations," says Emig.
The services of the counties of Mühldorf am Inn and Rosenheim as well as the independent city of Rosenheim specifically monitor the "car poser scene" by exhausting all legal possibilities. The control group motorcycle contributes its part for the area of the motorcycles. At the same time, the police spokesman appeals to citizens: any obstruction, harassment or endangerment should be reported directly to the local police inspection or via the emergency number 110.
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