An automotive construction machine for working ground surfaces, with a machine frame, a drive engine for driving traveling devices and for driving working devices, and a milling drum for milling the ground surfaces, which can be raised, driven by, and can be uncoupled from a drum drive, the milling drum can be moved into a raised position when not in milling mode, and when raised, the rotating direction of the milling drum corresponds to the rotating direction of the traveling devices and remains coupled with the drive engine, and a monitoring device monitors the distance between the milling drum and the ground surface and uncouples the raised milling drum from the drive engine or uncouples the traveling devices from the drive engine or raises the machine frame or generates an alarm signal when the monitoring device detects a deviation that falls below a pre-determined distance, or any of the latter.
