This policeman, fed-up of drivers stopping to take social media snaps of motorway car crashes is forcing anyone he catches to pull over and look at the victims bodies in a bid to shock them.
The unusual approach was thought up by officer Stefan Pfeiffer of the Feucht Traffic Police in the German state of Bavaria.
Pfeiffer was on duty at a deadly accident on the A6 Motorway between the town of Roth and the junction of Nuremberg South where a 47-year-old lorry driver died when he crashed his vehicle into another lorry.
To the dismay of Pfeiffer, several drivers slowed down while passing the accident and took out their mobile phones to take a picture for their social media accounts.
Pfeiffer was so angry at the lack of respect for the crash victim and the road hazards created by the sudden braking of the picture-mad drivers that he stopped every one he saw taking a photo.
He took one Hungarian driver out of his vehicle and dragged him towards the body of the lorry driver.
Pfeiffer told the driver: “You can look at him. He comes from your own country. You want to see him?”
When the shocked driver answered with a “no” and turned around in shame, Pfeiffer reportedly answered with a loud “shame on you” as he lectured the picture-crazy driver.
Pfeiffer did exactly the same with the Czech driver of a white van who he ordered to come out of his vehicle.
Pfeiffer told the man: “Come on, I’ll show you something, come on. You want to see dead people, you want to take pictures?”
The Czech driver was reportedly ashamed of his behaviour and refused to be taken to the dead man’s body.
The Hungarian and Czech drivers, who were both speechless after being nearly confronted with a dead body, were fined 128.50 EUR (113 GBP) for taking pictures of the accident.
Pfeiffer said: “They have to remember what they are actually doing and we find that a direct confrontation with the situation shocks people and makes it clear that this is not a game, this is a bitter reality.”
The German traffic cop has warned about the increase of picture-snapping drivers and passengers for several years, saying they are a daily occurrence.
Pfeiffer said: “Passing car drivers abruptly slow down and then creep past the scene of the accident at a walking pace, keep their phone out of the window, film and take a picture from close up. This is unfortunately common now.”
He said that more important than the fine is the drivers being shocked into the realisation how wrong their behaviour is.
Pfeiffer said: “Imagine if you were seriously injured and others were filming the scene, then showing it to friends or uploading it to Facebook.”
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
