Over the Easter break, I was driving at around 121 km per hour in a Luzern Autobahn tunnel which had a limit of 80 km per hour. I have been contacted by the police of Luzern Canton that my case would evaluated under the Section 90 of the Swiss Traffic Law (which applies on those criminal cases where one is above 35 kms per hour when compared with the permissible speed). I would like to know:
1) I am a German national living in German. Will the Luzern Canton confiscate my licsense for, say, 3 months, or does it only apply for those who are registered in Switzerland as residents. If not, will they contact my municipality back in Germany to do likewise?
2) Section 90 mentions imprisonment. Is it really so, or only to scare people in order to impose hefty fines?
3) It was my first traffic violation in Switzerland, will this count as something in my favor?
4) I am married with 2 children, and earn around 2500 Euros netto. How much fine should I expect?
Thank you for your responses.
In the meantime, I keep my fingers crossed that I only get a fine, even if hefty.
yeah I tried reading this, but was not able to find a precise answer. I realized that the fine could be around 1000 Euros, but 4000 is indeed a fortune.
Large fines are there to discourage people from speeding excessively. You chose to ignore the numerous speed limit signs and continue driving well in excess of the speeds travelled by the surrounding vehicles. You put yourself and others in danger.
You are now being asked to pay for your recklessness.
Tbh I think the cameras in those blasted Luzern tunnels are mainly there to pad the cantonal/police budgets. If they didn't go to the lengths of hiding the effing cameras in the emergency exit signs, I would be less inclined to think of the entire affair as a particularly spineless and douchey money grab. There are about a dozen cameras over a short section too, which can make it very expensive to drive through there just mildly above the limit.
20 days salary, depends how much you earn as to how much you will pay. Then add on the court and administration costs. Which will be high in Switzerland, I don't think 4000 Euros is far off what the final outcome will be.
As far as I know Switzerland cannot apply a ban on a German license, but Germany could.
I don't know what agreements Germany have in place with Switzerland for problem drivers, but I do know the Swiss applied a French "suggested ban" for myself. So I guess it works both ways.
You will get +/- the 20 Tagessätze (if lucky just on Bewährung/Propation) plus a fine (which may be in the range of CHF 600 to CHF 1200) plus a bill for the court fees.
As you live in Germany (first time I see a German call his country German. Good you did not say a German living in Swiss ) you only get a 3 month driving ban for Switzerland and you can keep your license (unless Germany has a similiar system as Switzerland). There will be an additional fee for the ban.
The Swiss sytem: If a forign authoroty issues a ban to a Swiss resident, the ban can be extended and the license confiscated. But only as long as the forign ban is in force.