Traffic control in Bonn Police stop veiled woman driver

Bonn · Germany has no general ban on women driving in burkas, leading to problems for the police.

What happens when a woman driver’s identity cannot be confirmed during a driving licence check because she is wearing a burka or niqab both behind the wheel and on her driving licence photo?

This happened recently in Bonn. A woman driving with her face covered was stopped by a police patrol. She did not want to show an identity card on which her face could be seen. Police said she also did not want to lift her veil because she had been stopped by two male officers. To solve the problem, police called in a female colleague. “When our female colleague arrived, the woman went with her to a house entrance and showed her face,” said police.

The woman cannot have had a German driving licence as this generally requires a photo showing a front view of the applicant without anything covering the head or the eyes. Officials can make exceptions, particularly for religious reasons. In such cases, the rule is that the face must be shown from the chin to the forehead with no shadows on the face. A photo with a veil is not permissible in Germany on a driving licence or a passport, even on religious grounds.

“Photos with head coverings that do not comply with these requirements, as for example with a burka, will be rejected in Bonn because of these rules,” says Marc Hoffmann, deputy city spokesman. However, there are no known cases of applications being submitted with such photos.

Police spokesman Robert Scholten said road traffic rules required neither sight nor hearing to be impaired while driving. However, there is no general burka or niqab ban while driving. “If a woman completely covers her face while driving, she will be stopped.” Until now, there have been no such problems in Bonn. There are intermediate stages, such as when a scarf not only covers the hair, but also parts of the face. “Then what is allowed is decided on a case by case basis,” said Scholten.

In this case, the police had the right to identify the woman driver and the woman did not have the right to refuse to show her face to police. “In practice, however, we take religion into account and call on a female colleague to come and carry out the identification,” said Scholten. This has happened before. “One should always think about what the issue is and what is reasonable and appropriate.”

(Ayla Jacob; translated by Kate Carey)

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