so you might want to read this: [[Drivers licence] Conversion and questions](http://www.englishforum.ch/transportation-driving/5770-drivers-licence-conversion-questions.html)
of course if you did not exchange your licence in the allotted time, you might be like this: Non conversion of drivers licence-stopped by Police
You missed your vocation, you sound just like a frustrated policeman!
Thank you for answering, I'm here only since January... so I still have 10.5 months to change the licence. Hope they don't take it away meanwhile... I will have to learn to be a more cautios. I see that the rules are rules, with no workaround.
Not quite..... if you collect too many small ones you will get an invite to pop along for a little chat that could lead to losing your license. I don't believe any history is wiped (personal experience) and would need convincing.
To Dannyt... I can see you have no idea as to how the swiss police operates. Guess you are an imbecile to give out advice when you have not an inkling as to what you are talking about...
I'm just telling you what the policeman to her. She phoned to say she wanted it recorded she (not I as the owner) was at fault.. because just like you we thought there was a secret tally. He said "fine, but it doesnt really matter because we delete small items from the record".
Now I think I will just add you to my ignore list, have a nice life... I guess swamps aren't so bad if you are primeval slime.
Tks Tks Tks.. Poor Baby. I have hurt your feelings. Next time engage your brain before your mouth
This is what I heard too, but the info we got made me think its anecdotal. How many is too many? Any posters who actually experienced this?
D
To all:
It seems that the red light fines are more or less standard, and everyone knows about them...they are uniformly Sfr 250, and that's that (mine was for 2.5 seconds...who knows, really?).
However, I would advise against contesting fines here in Swissy. A friend was fined via a blitz (camera) for going 3 km over the speed limit in Zürich. She was absolutely sure she was not speeding and wrote a letter claiming that fact. The authorities, always polite, agreed to review the case. They wrote back and said that they would check the equipment. One month later, she received a thank you note from the authorities. In this note, they advised that they had carried out lab tests, recalibrated the equipment, found that the devices were working properly in the first place. The punch line is that she had to pay the original fine and was charged an additional Sfr 500 for the lab work that was used on the test.
So,
Crime, speeding, and passing red lights on amber, or worse, red...only pays for the police.
Good luck.
This cannot be true...
It's not that I don't belive you, but I think that the "traffic" fines and rules are way over exagerated in this country. About red light I do agree with the authorities, but about speeding... no way.
I mean, I heard people got fined for 124 on the highway, 63 in the 60 zone well sorry, should we watch the road or watch the speedometer!? Driving in CH is so boring... honestly I think this is one of the reasone why accidents happen, people are just very relaxed when driving.
Unfortunately, it is true. For my part, I wouldn't take the chance of challenging the police if there is the possibility that they will "review" it...too much money and the odds are against you.
Having said that, I agree that it is ludicrous to ticket for 5km or under over the posted speed limits. Red lights are something else, but amber...???
There is a huge difference being actually fined and being liable if he had caused an accident. The issue here is whether he should get fined or not, i.e. paying money. Under the circumstances of course he should not pay any fine, but if he had caused an accident then that's a different story.
My husband ran a red light last year, and was fined 1000frcs they wanted to take his licence, but he had a good lawyer friend who helped him keep his licence as he needs his licence for his job.
You can have as many small fines (Ordnungsbussen) as you want. As long as you pay them within 30 days, nobody cares.
OK Just read the thread as I ran an AMBER light this evening in Basel and got flashed! Now, I agree that it should be an offence if you run a red in an emergency while not taking due care & attention! I agree that if you run a RED then you are out of order. It's gets GREY when some (and there are sooo many) indecisive driver is so mind numbingly board and unfocused on the job in hand while driving that they forget where they are or where they are going to then cause delay and alarm/frustration to other drivers; or if on seeing an AMBER or RED light you apply the brakes (maybe even in an EMERGENCY STOP fashion - road conditions etc.) but you cross the line by 12inches and get flashed...mmmm!
So back to this evening, I'm on the school run with my 3yr old on board, heading to collect big brother across town. I'm doing the limit (50) but no more on a 2-lane trunk road. I'm in the outside lane as there is a left turn which slows the traffic down in the inside lane. The lights are GREEN and the road ahead is clear, there are cars behind me but at this exact moment I cant say if they are 30 or 100m back. So, as I reach the light it goes AMBER - I have the experience to consider my scenario as I move my feet to brake/clutch. Do I break FULL EMERGENCY, possibly getting tail-ended in the process and maybe over running the line anyway or do I keep rolling (no acceleration). Anyway, I chose the latter, I never saw the light turn RED as the RED light was beyond my field of vision (I'd passed it) - I anticipated the FLASH and sure enough – in a sick way, I was not disappointed. Sooo predictable!
Hey, you know what It's liberating to take the moral high ground and say "If in doubt - you are wrong so take it and cough-up the fine/tax" but I know I chose the correct course of action and it concerns me that the system is educating (by this dogmatic torture process) the decisive intelligence from us. In this way we can hide behind the law in justification of our actions. And yes 70% of the time the law will be right (after appeals) , 20% it will be 50/50 and the law will over rule, but sure as death & taxes 10% of the time they will be plain wrong!
I have a simple question which will help me better understand the rhetoric of the SWISS auto-law.
If I had emergency stopped with my excellent breaks and someone had shunted me (causing whatever distress & injury) then what are the typical ramifications in terms of Legal & Insurance processes?
But, despite this (one time anyway) and the other characteristics (like extreme paranoia when trying to negotiate cars - slow, fast, static or stationary; pedestrians - on, near or no-where-near a crossing; cyclists & other vehicles - including, trams, busses, lorries & commonly tractors or/and anything near a roundabout or sharp turn in the road on a junction !!!) of Swiss driving (which compares in it's madness to London in a kind of inverse way) I think in a sort of communist doctorial fashion it work for the better. However, in this I am assuming that the per/capita traffic statistics are a zillion times more attractive than say UK/USA?
I like the idea that the pedestrian has an equal access to the thoroughfare but they also are guilty of pushing the GREY envelope in their favour with the eclectic-rod FEAR FACTOR OF THE LAW working in concert. But I am assuming that my kids are much safer for this overhead which makes for powerful debating collateral?
Cheese with your whine Sir?
TTFN
Some red light cameras are combined with speed cameras. Are you sure you didn't accelarate through the amber light to avoid the red light and thus exceed the speed limit?
Regading the rest of your wine (sick), zebra crossings, traffic lights, parked cars and pubs are potential hazards and you should adjust your speed accordingly.
In a front-to-back fender collision, the police usually blame the trailing driver. S/he should have seen the lights changing and be prepared to stop. Unless, of course, the leading driver acted illegally.
Cheers Goldtop - sounds similar to UK.
Of course the Grey area is the mechanical and human factors which dictate that some vehicals are better equiped (to stop) than others and some people will react slower than others. Road conditions aside, in concert these 2 fctors could easilly account for upto 50m I reckon.
I mean, i've been in cars with guys and have notices a hazard (eg Zebra crossing) so in my mind I'm braking already then a second or 2 later the driver is doing it. which gets me thinking that things are so clear cut in practice as in theory - maybe?
I've also been in cars and trucks whee the term "Throwing the anchor out" quite literally applies. They stop in a dime, like Automan or something from fiction - mazing, until they do it (legally) infront of you ...
Tongue-in-cheek (Whine) - Jekyll, yip it is a combi-camera.
As the AMBER changed literally as I was upon it and I chose not to do an Emergency stop - I would only have chosen to then accelerate should the situation have dictated it but there again in this case (given the dry road conditions) I would have probably opted for the E-stop. No, I'm quite confident that I did not accelerate causing the Speed camera reaction, I'm 99% sure it will be a RED light call.
I am resigned to the technical appraisal of the system but I'm highlighting that when it's too close to call (though hindsight can apply) I think that some latitude must be extended to human and mechanical diversity in a FAIR appraisal.
On the other point, since the children and especially when onboard I do anticipate and adjust both speed and road position around hazards, but point noted. I have noticed over the last 12 months though that due to the exaggerated (almost protracted sometimes) acts of caution if (for example) a cyclist is on the other side of the road the on-coming traffic will quite happily enter you lane to avoided the cyclist whilst simultaneously creating a new hazard or as it were deferring it to the next guy. Hey, these are just my observation, not really criticisms (up to a point then) but more my way of adjusting myself and accepting the charisma of this country warts and all really.
Cheers,
Eugene
I wouldn't worry until the fine appears in your letter box - which it may not. I have been flashed twice in Zurich by these laser speed cameras that can be moved about. Once the camera was on my side of the road, once on the other side.
In both cases I was doing about 51KPH when I looked down at the speedo after the flash in a 50 zone. In both cases other cars were close to mine/ catching up. They were flashed too.
Both incidents were over 2 months ago and i have received nothing. It could be the camera that flashed you is set worngly...