Facts
On April 30, 1995, R. drove his company car in [W.] with a blood alcohol concentration of 1.57 per mille. Moreover, the tire on the left rear wheel was missing, the left side mirror was broken off, and the front bumper was damaged. Therefore, the District Office [W.] sentenced him by penal order dated January 17, 1996 for driving under the influence of alcohol, violation of the regulations on the operational safety of motor vehicles, and other offenses to three weeks' imprisonment suspended and a fine of CHF 800.--. By order dated July 13, 1995, the Road Traffic and Shipping Office of the Canton of St. Gallen revoked R.'s driver's license based on Art. 16 para. 3 lit. b RTA and Art. 29 in conjunction with Art. 16 para. 2 RTA for a period of seven months. The Administrative Appeals Commission of the Canton of St. Gallen dismissed an appeal filed against this on August 20, 1996. The present administrative court appeal is directed against this decision, requesting that the decision of the Administrative Appeals Commission be set aside and the duration of the driver's license revocation be reduced appropriately, but no more than four months.
Considerations
The Federal Court states that in assessing the professional necessity of driving a motor vehicle, the principle of proportionality must be taken into account. Professionally dependent drivers should as a rule be effectively warned and deterred from further offenses by a shorter revocation period. The reduction is measured by the extent to which the driver is more affected by the measure than the normal driver due to professional necessity.
In the present case, the appellant has substantiated that as a field sales representative of a toy trading company, he is professionally dependent on a vehicle. The lower court should therefore have addressed…