I would like to complain about myself on behalf of all the Large Merc and BMW drivers , who i seem to annoy by driving too slowly.
Being new here , I stick to the speed limits and in tunnels (Wow what a lot long of ones you have in CH)...where it says 80 KPH or 100 KPH limit , i have been watching the speedo and doing 75 or 95 ....this results in a car behind tailing me 2 to 3 feet from my bumper. Also I'm guilty of doing 50 KPH in small towns (where it says 50) and causing cars behind (Porche last time) screaming past in 2nd gear ,as it was forced to over take me.
Should I become a local and ignore the 50 KPH town speed limits ?
Why would you do that? You know that the speedo is overreading anyway, right, so you're actually doing 70 or less in an 80 zone. Why does it surprise you that other drivers don't appreciate you making them brake behind you?
Slow lane ....when there are two lanes ....lane nearest to the wall in tunnels.
Maybe most of the Porche and £80K plus cars can afford a speeding ticket on every trip out ....I read they are about 40 CHF a pop ....not a big deal I suppose.
Not like in the UK, where you collect 4 or 12 points and get a ban.
Depends on how fast they’re going when the machine goes pop. Fines can run up into the hundreds and if it’s really serious like 200+k per hour then they’re likely to lose both licence and car and be banned from driving in Switzerland ever again.
It’s one of the worst things about driving over here so just ignore them and drive at the speed you want to drive at. My OH complains daily about tailgaters on the motorways trying to push him into going faster - or even nearly off the road once or twice when he didn’t get out of their way fast enough.
I think the highest fine to date is 1,000,000 CHF in 2010, fines have gone up since then with a minimum of 1 year in Prison (max 4 years) in addition to a fine for such extreme cases of speeding.
You don't have to do anything. But to understand why those people are getting annoyed with you it might help to realise that (probably) a) they know their real speed and the effective limit (e.g. that an indicated 90 is a genuine 83 so is safe from cameras in an 80 limit, b) that they know where the cameras are and c) that they're sufficiently observant of their speedometer to avoid accidentally accelerating over the threshold.
Whether you agree with their desire to push to the speed limit or beyond is another question entirely, but hopefully you'll be less surprised when they appear in your mirror doing 20kph more that you and wanting you to get out of their way.
Now please, how exactly is your OH "pushed" by tailgaters, especially "nearly off the road"? How can that be done without physical force, which would get them in jail anyway?
Drivers of Swiss plated cars tend to drive around the posted limit - in a 100 zone this means from 98 to 110 - give or take. And a vast number do so on cruise control. If you are driving outside of this range you may feel like that you are constantly being tailgated.
There is no doubt that driver will tailgate - and as long as you drive safely and in accordance with the rules - they can just wait.
As for being pushed off the road - there is no need to exaggerate
Some people like to make there point by exaggerating, unless off course they simply cant drive very well in which case they have nearly driven off the road because they were too slow to move back into the slow lane
Unfortunately, I’m not. One evening coming home from work the OH had another car tailgating him while he was overtaking. OH wasn’t going slowly, he stays within 10% excess of the speed limit so was doing around 125-130kph. The driver kept flashing him to get out of the way, but he couldn’t move over immediately as there were other cars on the inside lane. As soon as he was clear he moved over. Instead of immediately overtaking him, the other car pulled alongside and then deliberately started edging over into the inside lane, trying to push him on to the hard shoulder. He took avoiding action and the other car then overtook and disappeared into the distance.
It matters not how fast or slow you drive, tailgating is Switzerland's nation sport. Odd thing is when they can pass, they often prefer to still follow with only their windscreen visible in your mirror.
Of course when it snows the tailgating game is postponed...
Given the overreading of most speedos this translates into 70 or 90 or even less. Speed limits are rather low here already. In good conditions there's really no need to go even slower and annoy everybody.
Tip: Learn how much your speedo overreads, e.g. by using a GPS unit and drive accordingly.
BTW, where in Switzerland (not Swiss Land) is WHITCHURCH?
Tailgating ? I thought that is closely and aggressively following the one in front ? That would be the nation sport of Germany. The nation sport in Switzerland is not to allow a distance of more than 80 centimeters between cars on the highways. The French combine BOTH