Looking for a bit of advice regarding a potential traffic violation!
My mother in law was driving my car a few days ago in Lausanne and stopped at the traffic lights near the Pont de Chauderon (going down into the centre.
She was in the lane to go straight and there is also another lane to go right. To go right was green, straight was red. Apparently the light to go straight didnt turn green after a long time, while the light to go right turned green and red twice multiple times.
Another driver came behind her, and apparently flashed his lights... she was a bit anxious and drove forward over the line to give him space to go into the right lane (but did not continue to go across the intersection). The traffic light camera in front of the car flashed them. She then went across the line into the right lane and turned right... (there was no additional flash for this). It was at night and quite empty on the road. The car behind followed her going right.
My questions are:
1. My mother in law was driving. She's from Mexico and lives there. I'm assuming there will be a photo of her driving and she's fine to accept responsibility. Is it usually easy to ask for the photo and give the authorities her details to ensure I have no issues?
2. With this situation, where she crossed the line but didnt continue going forward... is there usually any way to explain and not get any fine / etc.?
Hopefully I explained that well enough, thanks for any help!
Normally you would just get two tickets for this one 1. running the red light 2. illegal turn (if it was a solid line). The police will not care who exactly was driving in this case: its‘s in the catalog so no court proceedings required. It will cost you about 350 total
It is very easy, yes. You would just tick the box ‚I was not the driver‘ and details of the driver. The ticket will still remain your responsibility though.
No need to creat extra admin work for the police, just pay and forget.
Thanks. If the ticket would remain my responsibility, what would be the point of registering a different driver? Surely the point is to drop any responsibility from my side (esp. with photo evidence)?
The police will send a letter with a fine to the person linked to the plates. The only way they can know you we're not driving it's if you tell them. I'd just pay the fine and call it day.
The only reason I'd tell the police it was another driver is because I'd risk to get the driving permit frozen for a while due to repeated violations of traffic law.
So, if there's no major consequence, just pay and make everyone's life easier. If there are big consequences, it's worth to name the real driver.
PS. the issue is that there's a risk that the police will follow their procedure and send a letter with the fine to the address in Mexico. And then have to pay from Mexico. So, pay now and forget about it now, or name the other driver and this becomes a conversation topic for weeks and months until the matter is settled.
I feel bad for your mother in law. Some drivers here have no patience.
Unfortunately you're learning the hard way that traffic mistakes in Switzerland are an expensive lesson.
Next time, she shouldn't let herself be harrassed by the car behind her. If they needed to be somewhere at a certain time, they should have left earlier.
The point is quite simply, if the "different driver" decided not to pay as they were no longer in the country, the fine is still due and as the owner of the car, it is considered you gave permission to the "different driver" so you are responsible to pay.
As it was your mother, either she pays or you pay, think of it as an advanc e on the heritage !!