I had supper last night with some French friends and I was very shocked when they told me what happened to them a couple of weeks ago.
They live in France and like to holiday in Switzerland. In France he has some sort of radar detector - I am sure that some are forbidden but by all accounts this one was allowed.
They crossed the border and there was a road check further on looking for shopping. They showed inside their car and the police officer saw this detector in the glove compartment. He took it and said that it was forbidden in Switzerland and although it was not switched on he took it and said they could not have it back and they were fined 400 CHFS. They were also told that after this there was still possibly further action with the authorities.
I know that rules are rules but the fact that they have a car with French plates and do not live in Switzerland and would not have used this in the country( and they are not young) I imagine a good telling off would have been sufficient. It seems quite hard to me.
I don't think it was hidden in the glove box for evading purposes, I think it was just kept there and they have crossed the border many times with it there - they just did not know that in France it is allowed but not in Switzerland
I agree that it is totally exaggerated but Swiss law requires mandatory confiscation and destruction of radar detectors or similar units. ( SVG Art. 98a , 2nd paragraph)
I'm glad that there are some apps and navigation system developments that can be helpful to warn potential speeders (who can truly use their brains) prior risking monetary consequences. I see it as an alternative psychological way of obeying traffic rules by controlling the speed knowing it is about the time to slow down whilst you get the last warning. On the other hand it is also the risk that one can abuse such and keep the speed down in vicinity of the radars only. This would be wrong too.
Still in my opinion there are lots of restrictions in CH that have not as much to do with safety but rather with filling up the coffers of local districts. The example could be streets that are closed to traffic at certain times of the day that have radars on them which are debatable even by inhabitants of those districts. There have been desputes ongoing about these whether it is fair or not. Traffic rules enforced can also be a way of capitalizing on.
In the UK people would say "Aww that seems a bit harsh. How long have they been illegal? Didn't the guy know? What's the difference between a big warning sign 1km ahead and using an electronic device to tell you the camera is there anyway?"
In Switzerland they say "The guy deserves a fine at least 10 times that amount, lose his license and should go to prison! Ignorance is no excuse and he is clearly a dangerous criminal who needs to be taught a lesson"
This is interesting topic and I have been thinking many times that device which would work with cruise control + GPS would be fantastic. Meaning the current maximum speed would be detected by GPS location and the car would not go faster than the limit is.
The only problem here is that then most of the investments for road cameras and other money collecting devices would be trashed, and that said governments would not never accept it as they would lost so much money
Not as foolish as thinking there's someone somewhere yelling "Hey, Hans. Look at this on the Internet. We're missing a trick. We need to search all smartphones!"
Hey policeman. Hi there. Why don't you also look for folks that suddently brake 200m before a camera? And you know what? If a driver looks a bit sheepish when you stop him. He might be feeling guilty about something.
Oh, come on. Do you really think that the police were oblivious to these camera location apps and only now know due to a single post on an expat forum?