I got home from Europe in July, and just received 3 traffic citations in the mail. I was driving a rental car, and must have broke some rules. I would like to fight them or get out of them, rather than pay them. I have researched some and I know I need to pay them, but I was wondering if their are traffic attorneys. How do they know it was me driving? Are there any legal ways to dispute this how do I know it was me? There is no picture of me doing anything, so if it was a traffic camera how do I know it was me.
The traffic camera photographed the car, from the plate they send the fine to the owner (car company), who told them the driver was you. The fine you received should mention the dates, types of offence committed, and the plate number of the car.
The âlegal way to fightâ would be to check the info on the fine (plate, day) with the info on your car rental contract.
If you can prove that the rental company made a mistake and you were not the driver that day, you are good. Otherwise I am not sure how what âfightâ you are thinking of⌠the police letting you go because you/your attorney just asked nicely?
PS: note the authorities here donât care about who was actually driving, they fine the owner of the car and itâs up to him to recover the amount from whomever he gave the keys to. The exception is rental cars, which they allow the owner to pass on the fine to the driver who rented the car. So they donât need your face on camera, just the plate is enough.
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Yes, as Blings implies, they donât care or need to prove that it was you. Youâre the named driver on the rental contract, youâre responsible for any fines incurred. It does not matter who was actually driving - even if you had more than one specified driver and you want to pass the fine on to them, even assuming you could identify the exact time and location and remember who was driving, the police issuing the fine are not interested, you need to pay it.
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put in in the rubbish bin and forget it.
Welcome to Switzerland. This happens to all of us but we we just pay. The Swiss are very thorough in being correct and you will have no success in appealing. Pay up or ignore.
In the worst case they will issue extradition orders! 
This is for any other visitors of Switzerland: get a car that shows the speed limit and follow it knowing that it is only 90% correct. That means you need to keep an eye on the speed limit signs, which change quickly.
In addition, if you get a speeding ticket in a 50 or 30 zone, be prepared to pay dearly.
Neat idea. Next time the OP arrives here the fines will be waiting for him along with interest. Entry will only be allowed after full payment has been madeâŚ
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Hi,
Things are a bit different in Switzerland. First, thereâs no business like this around here ( https://offtherecord.com/). So, you have to defend yourself of pay lawyer market rates (200+ CHF/hour)
Since you donât mention it, itâs safe to assume you neither crashed or were stopped by the police in the highway. Quite probably the infractions are speed or red light cameras.
For speed, thereâs not much to do. Unless youâre lucky and some time later arises that the system was faulty. Last year, people got reimbursed after paying fines with faulty measurement of speed Rogue speed cameras flash 10,000 innocent drivers in Swiss capital - SWI swissinfo.ch
For red light cameras, there are 2 main infractions: i) not respecting the red light, and ii) if you are caught 2 seconds after the light turns to red police assumes youâre endangering other people by not respecting the red light. The 1st one is unavoidable. For the 2nd one, you may verify the time interval between infraction and the red light change, if less than 2 seconds, the fine is only 250 CHF. But, it is quite improbable that the police made a mistake.
Good luck!
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Yeap, this is a different ball game than the US. In the US depending on the state there might be legal ways that you can argue out of a ticket, and services like off the record do this kind of work.
However, in CH (and other places in Europe) this is not the case. Machines are calibrated, standard tolerances are applied according to the spec and calibration protocol of the machine, and there is clear legal structures to enforce these tickets.
So if you ever want to go through Switzerland again, even for a transit flight to somewhere else, you better pay now and avoid the interest charges.
And regarding the âhow do they know if I was drivingâ. Cameras here, in their vast majority take pictures front and back of the vehicle, and theyâre not dingy small shitty cameras. A friend got caught speeding heavily, tried to pin to his wife, and they were both called to their local police station. I still remember the wife saying âthe picture of me on the passenger seat was so clear, I could see what earings I wore that dayâ.
So yeah, they know 
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Also know that what you got so far is probably a standard fine, a predetermined amount based on the (charged) infraction.
If you fight it (not paying in time automatically triggers that) it goes to court. As a consequence there will be additional costs including court costs and administrative costs. The resulting sum is likely to be manyfold of what youâre due at this point, which is probably three standard fines. And you risk an increased charge when your case is inspected more closely (perhaps the photograph shows you were texting or some other aggravating circumstance).
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Remember the day in Aussie land when they had 2 wires stretched across the road. Once I braked so hard that I tore up the wires! the cop was not happy<.
LOL, what kind of advise is that? I never ever had a car that did not sho the speed Iâm driving at. And to keep an eye on the speed signs is a basic rule when driving and internationally valid.
OP might not wanna come back. Driving is a bitch here.
I think she was being sarcastic.
Well I definitely was.
But even if AbFab was, I think she was correct too.
Sorry for not making myself clear. Get a car that shows the allowed speed limit.
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You mean those that read the road signs? Not tried one, are they really as reliable as 90%? I have google maps active most of the time which shows the limit as far as it knows it, especially useful on foreign roads, like driving back through Italy for seven hours yesterday, where youâre not always sure if youâre on a 130 or 110 section. Then again, there are very few actual cameras on the autostrade, so itâs not such an issue.
Thatâs it. My new car dings after every change in speed limit and displays the new allowed speed. It is not 
reliable but much better than nothing.
My good old TomTom dings when Iâm too fast.
I must say, the speed-limits are definitely 90% correct. And the left over 10% is mainly on building sites.