As per title, a friend of mine has the following issue. They recently had a car accident. It happened in a crossroad where there are no signs, so it's somehow unclear whose fault it is. Seems like "priority to right" should be the dominant rule but still unclear. (Police agreed on the unclarity).
Here a photo:
Red lines are how my friend was driving straight on Badenerstrasse and yellow lines are the other driver who was coming from Langstrasse, hitting my friend's right rear door.
Some days ago, my friend received an email from their insurance company just telling them that it was decided it was my friend's fault but without any futher explanation. When my friend requested the police report/decision from both insurance company and the Police, they claimed that it was confidential and rejected to give any details.
Now my question is: how is my friend supposed to know based on what rule exactly insurance/police decided that it was their fault? Aren't they obliged to provide some kind of written document clarifying the reasons behind the decision?
Finally, since my friend is at blame here, it looks like there will be a fine and a temporary ban of driving(I guess). Any chance someone knows what to expect?
Here is a photo of the place of the incident. Just learnt how to attach photos, sorry about that.
Red lines are how my friend was driving straight on Badenerstrasse and yellow lines are the other driver who was coming from Langstrasse, hitting my friend's right rear door.
Hate to go in the cliché englishforum rant, but if your friend also shares this opinion - they should absolutely not be allowed to drive. Since there were no specific signs, the car on the right side (the one hitting your friend) had the right of way and the one on the left (your friend) had to yield.
Note that it is true that it is quite uncommon nowadays to have unregulated intersections on big roads, so it also can be understandable the fact that your friend assumed they were on the main road and had the right of way - but not being able to understand why they are at fault after the fact, calmly looking at the road is very worrisome.
Given this, the questions on whether the police has to release the report or not and on the driving ban are still valid questions, but I've no idea
Your friend is wrong. Any traffic indicated by the yellow arrows has right of way.
That said, if I were turning right as per the yellow arrows, I would be on the look out for friends of EF members who don’t know I have the right of way...
I agree with you, when no signs, the one on your right has priority. You stated it very well above that my friend assumed(wrongfully) they had priority being on the main road.
However, what worries them much is that Insurance and Police are not willing to provide any official reports/decicions due to confidentiality reasons.
I agree based on the photo, but this part of the OP makes me wonder if there should not also be fault on the other driver? (emphasis in quote is mine)
If the other driver hit the rear door, then they clearly saw OP's friends car and should have stopped. Even if they had right of way. We all have to have control of our cars at all times and avoid accidents, not get into them just because we know we have the right of way.
As for "confidential", a wild guess is that the other person is some sort of diplomat or other official and the parties want to keep it quiet - since OP's friend was anyway at fault.
Twaddle. Priority to the right is a Napoleonic thing. In other countries the rule is going straight on has priority. This isn't about competency, it's about ignorance of the law - for which there's no excuse of course.
Why priority to the right should exist makes no sense to me.
I agree on this too. It's interesting how the other driver did not try to stop at all, no tyre braking signs on the asphalt. He saw the car and just hit the rear right door.
Honestly, Badenerstrasse is one of the main and longest roads in Zurich city so when driving on it, one can easily get the feeling of having priority due to being on the main road.
Yes, but IMO the strangest part of that law is that the "main" road does not matter. If there are no signs, and no markings the right always has the right of way.
"When driving in a town, city, or village in Switzerland, the right of way at an intersection is automatically given also to the vehicle on the right unless indicated by a priority sign according to Swiss traffic laws. This also applies in the case of a small side or secondary road entering a major main road."
Two reason why it is not a main road. First, it is not marked as a main road on the map . Second, which is much more important it is not marked as a main road on the ground: Neither has it blue destination signs , nor has it the Hauptstrasse sign. One is very obviously not on a main road and thus should not expect to have priority.
Since we are on it, one thing that I keep wondering is the following:
If one is on Badenerstrasse, a main road and keeps going straight, how can he/she know that the one coming from right (Langstrasse) has no STOP sign or downward triangle, which means they have priority? Or reversely, how someone coming from Langstrasse and turning to Badenerstrasse knows for sure the one on on Badenerstrasse does NOT have priority?
What I mean is that, instinctively, being on Badenerstrasse and going straight makes you think you have priority while being on Langstrasse and turning to Badenerstrasse makes you feel you don't have priority.
The one on Badenerstrasse can see that that the Langstrasse has the priority, due to the absence of "Shark teeth" and absence of the upside down triangle give priority sign, and also due the absence of the white bar and absence of the octagon stop sign.
Both, the stop sign and the give priority sign, have each a very distinct shape which cannot be confused with any other street sign.
Vice versa, the person coming from Langstrasse does not see the distinct street markings nor the distinct road signs and thus knows that they have the priority over the vehicles which come from the left, but must give way to the vehicles coming from the right.
Because there must be a default for how an unregulated intersection works, it is not realistic to keep signs on every single intersection in the country, including the country road used two times per week by a farmer.
"Going straight" is a subjective rule, since some roads maybe more or less "straight. Also what happens when you have an "Y" intersection for example?
Priority to the right is a fundamental rule to ensure that every intersection is governed by an objective and clear precedence order. Yes, regulated intersections are better, yes, we all got used to them in the city - but it's no excuse for not being able to know who yields to who