Potential Speeding Ticket near St. Moritz

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
I have a issue here. About a month ago I got caught by a flash camera on a road near St. Moritz. I was driving somewhere near 120kph on a rural road where the limit is 80kph. Not good!! My wife is pissed! I am pissed (driving the speed of the cars around me and then having the camera flash me but not the others) for speeding in such a beautiful country when I shld have been driving nice and slow (I tried that but when three ppl flipped me off is when I decided to drive with the flow of traffic).

What can I do with this ticket? Do I have to fly back to Swizterland to fight it? Is this going to cost me the price of my pickup truck?

Do I pay it when the ticket comes or is that not even a option? Thanks everyone and have a great day!!!!

P.S. Don't speed in Switzerland!!!!

2
Yes Switzerland is a very beautiful country, but that is the lamest excuse for not speeding here (or anywhere else), I sugest you to think about the potential threat you have represented for others (including your wife) while driving in such irresponsible way.

Another Yes, it might cost you the price of your pickup truck: The law indicates that between 36-40KPH above the speed limit in rural zones, fines can go for around 20% of your net revenues (provided you were not inside any village). See this (in french): http://www.servinfo.ch/divers/amendes.html

PS: Don't speed in any place where you shouldn't!!!! There are quite a few dedicated racing tracks you can use around the world to drain your need for speed.

3
I do accept I was speed and I'll pay what ever ticket comes to me but what I can't understand is how all the motorcyclists get away with speeding on the roadways. I drove 5500kmeters over a 8 day span and at least 50 times, if not more, I was passed by motorcyclists driving 20 to 100kph faster than I was. I was even passed going up a hill (9% grade) going around a corner with blatent disregard with any vehicle that was coming around the corner.

4
P.S, I don't think my rental car (a Mercedes A180) is deserving of a race track anywhere in the world!!

5
The best thing to do is fly over and hire a good lawyer to fight this crazy charge.

I thought you were saying that the cars around you were all going the same speed as you. Now you're talking about motorcycles.

6
1. You were going 120kph in an 80kph zone. What EXACTLY are you going to fight? You did it, pay it and stop whining about it

2. How do you think the camera works? Flash one in every 5 offenders? Get real.....maybe they were flashed and you didn't see. Who knows? Who cares?

7
You should come back with a sack of cash and an attitude and try bribing the authorities. I hear that works.

8
Don't you know? These cameras have number plate readers, so they can tell if the driver is foreign, and only flash those.

9

So what, you got caught, they didn't.

"Somewhere near 120 in an 80 zone" is already "somewhere over 50% of the limit" and in a rural area.

You best start saving.

10
Lame excuse yes. You did the crime, now do the time (except it's CH so actually now pay the fine).

BUT.... Were you in the car with him. How do you know he was driving irresponsibly? Speeding does not equal driving irresponsibly. Maybe the OP was on a straight road with miles of visibility (except for cameras of course ), in fact driving an A-class Merc at those speeds would necessitate a large run up anyway.

OP as you were pin a rental car, I expect that the car rental company will catch up with you. If you ever plan on coming to Switzerland again, I suggest you pay up.

11
Ah, rental car, well the fine will got to where the car is registered, the rental company who will pay the fine on behalf of the person who rented the car, using the credit card details, nd of course adding the administrative charges.

So yes, you will pay the fine and it will be heavy, you have no chance of avoiding it and as a crime/fine has been levied by an official body, you cannot contest the payment with the credit card company.

12

so you had a rental car... in that case the fine goes to the rental agency, they will pay it and then charge your credit card.

not a lot more to do except for expecting a big CC bill

13
According to the fine catalogue How do speeding fines work in Switzerland? it looks like the OP will be getting a fine of 15 x daily income. How will the court decide this in absentia? Or will they just guess?

OP on the brightside the fine might be so big that it gets declined on your CC as it would take you over the limit

14
Well thanks for the info everyone! Speeding does suck! So, the fine will be 15% of my income but is that MY income or me and my wife's income? If it is my income then it's gonna be in the range of 3k then.

15
Read it again......

16

17
Are you thinking of some other country where it's possible to negotiate your fine?

18
No, but its a known fact that car speedometers read approx 10% over the true speed. So driving an indicated 120 is actually 110ish. The radars read the true speed not the indicated speed and they have an error themselves so the cops deduct a figure from their reading too. With the newer machines I believe that is about 4km/h. No negotiations, just facts.

19
We certainly went to different math schools

Talking about schools, years ago one of my best friends in high school lost her sister when a driver going above the speed limit in an avenue, lost control and got off the road.... I reckon the offender at that time probably didn't have the driving experience that the OP might have (the guy was 18 or 19 if I recall correctly), but I think you get my point.

20

as far as I know, not 1 person has ever been killed by speeding, coming to an abrupt halt - yes, speeding - no

modern cars are more the capible of doing 120 kph and stopping safely, without knowing where the op did the crime then who are we to judge?

outside a school at kicking out time - then he deserves stonning

On a mountain pass at 6am in the morning - big deal!

Just for info 20kph over in an 80 got me a 240chf fine - 2am in the morning before anyone has a go.