OH received a letter from the Baselstadt traffic police based up near Badischer Bahnhof railway station yesterday. It warns they are going to prosecute him over his accident and he has 10 days to give a statement. If he doesn’t do this it will be passed on to the Justice Department to deal with.
I really don’t get this. Doctors at both University Hospital and the rehab facility he’s currently in have told the police he is incapacitated mentally and not fit to give a statement, it has also been pointed out to the police he has no memory of what happened.
I also don’t understand the police claiming there were no witnesses (despite his A and E report disputing this) as this happened near the Hammering Man sculpture which is probably one of the busiest junctions in Basel with cars, bikes and motorbikes, trams, buses and pedestrians all converging there (for the record I have to be super careful crossing the street as it gets confusing and cars often just pull right out, particularly at the corner of Dufourstrasse).
I can only assume this is some sort of standard template letter they change the details on and that his state of health details re his head injury have not been updated in the police system. I was making progress last week with things like getting medical certificates organised, now I’m taking 2 steps back with this hanging over us and actually I’m a bit angry with the police as I really do not need this.
I’m guessing here that the police are frustrated that they have not been able to complete their paperwork, since the police have not been allowed to talk to him.
While your husband may not be fully or sufficiently recovered to make statements to the police, the police should be able to see and talk to him, and make notes of what your OH can (not) remember and provide to the police.
The police have a job to do also, specially when the case involves huma injury. it is entirely possible that the insurnace companies are asking for the police report, which the police has to provide.
If the doctors really did and continues to refuse to allow the police to talk to him, then get that letter from the doctor, and write back to the police including the letter.
If you cant get the letter from the doctor, you may be on much shakier grounds …
The police also have responsibilities and timelines … that doctor’s letter will help them too …
I think I’m going to see if I can get another appointment with the social worker early next week as I’m feeling a bit shaky about this and I don’t want him to end up on the wrong side of the law as we have enough to contend with at the moment.
The Swiss Police can, and do prosecute people for falling off their bikes, even if no one else is involved.
It’s called “Loss of control” ( Nichtbeherrschen des Fahrzeugs).
I guess it’s this prosecution which is described in the letter your OH received.
They can drop the fines if the injury is considered punishment enough.
The fines aren’t huge and so it’s something you shouldn’t worry about financially but your OH (or someone on his behalf) should definitely reply to the letter as ignoring it would be seen to have more serious repercussions.
Huh. I knew swiss police could be pedantic and had the right to enforce ‘loss of control of vehicle’, but to do this on someone on a bicycle and nobody/nothing else was affected …
Do you have legal insurance? When I had my bike accident it was really useful because they can easily navigate all this stuff and, in my case, advised me of points that I hadn’t even thought of.
A dick move by the police. I saw it too, a friend had lost control (in tram tracks) fell and broke arm. Nobody else was involved, but he got fined by the police anyway.
In many ways this is nothing more than an irritating sideshow and a nuisance for you to have to deal with at present.
I would suggest you speak to your contacts at the hospital, ideally get something from them in writing, provide that as your response to Baselstadt traffic police.
I am sure it is very annoying for you but it is not worth getting too distracted by it, in a worst case they pass it on to the Justice Department and some relatively minor process follows.
4 of his colleagues came to the hospital when I was there yesterday afternoon, they all thought it was probably to do with taking a driving licence away. However, he’s never had a car in the 12 years he’s been here and he doesn’t have a Swiss licence.
I doubt if it is related to taking his driving licence away, it is just a next step in a bureaucratic procedure. As I understand it, in Switzerland there is no such this as a traffic “accident” - situations occur when someone somehow breaks some regulation and they are now dealing with the situation in that mindset which requires them to take statements and file reports etc etc