Is everyone so rich that they dont care about the fines?
Everyone is using the apps to know where the speed cameras are?
Honestly i have no idea... seems that i was the only one following the rules
Honestly, I was driving in the highway at the speed limit checking it on the dashboard and with the GPS and i noticed that absolutely EVERYONE is driving at a higher speed than the speed limit...
Because the speed limit is set lower than they want to drive, perhaps? It's not rocket science.
I don't. Generally .
And you are wise to keep doing so.
General rule of survival in Switzerland:
Just because everyone else seems to get away with it doesn't mean that they won't throw the book at you .
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I just plod along at the speed limit, pay no attention to the boy racers as they fly past me. Keeps my blood pressure under control and my record clean.
It normally feels like I am crawling on the right lane all the time.
Even if I do drive slower (120 dashboard, 114 TomTom), it doesn ́t make that much difference in time and saves a lot of nerves.
On the motorway I drive 125 kph, no faster, no slower. Everywhere else I stick rigidly to the limit. Driving like this I haven't had a speeding ticket in many years.
I'm a reformed speeder. I used to speed (never in towns, only on the highway) but rarely averaged more than 1 or 2 fines a year with fines roughly amounting to CHF 80 - 100 each.
I had one ban, when I thought I was doing the limit of 120 but in fact the limit was 80 on the Bellinzona to San Bernadino highway. I even knew where the camera was but thought I was safe doing 118, but that cost me CHF700 + 1 month ban. 30kph above the limit + 6kph allowance = 116kph so the 2 kph was quite expensive. After that I kept to 28kph above the limit.
So why did I speed? I thought it would get me to my destination faster - as simple as that.
But that was then. Now I religiously keep to the limit What changed my attitude was two fold: As the police got stricter and placed more speed cameras, especially round Lucerne, Zurich and Lausanne - Geneva, I got fed up with subsidizing the local constabulary.
Then, one day driving from Basel to Luagno, I kept exactly to the limit, raising a one finger salute as I passed the cameras saying "this time you haven't got me"! What amazed me was the journey took no longer than when I would speed. I repeated this exercise on several trips I regularly made and found the same, or maybe it would take 2 or 3 minutes longer at the most.
That and a social conscience made me change my ways and I'm now a law abiding motorist who can now tut tut at the speeding motorists as I utter "you won't get there any faster".
Chances of getting caught are actually quite slim.
32 years of driving here, only two fines over CHF 60 (and perhaps a 5 at CHF 60 or less), and never a ban.
Tom
I disagree. IMHO it is quite the contrary. When I drive at the speed limit, usually I have to drive on the right lane and keep switching lanes each time I catch up on a truck or other slow vehicle. Also there are lots of people driving slowly but way too close (tailgating).
On the other hand, when I drive 10-15 kmh above the speed limit, then most of the time I don't have these troubles. Very few tailgate me, I can keep most times on the left lane and have a safer distance between cars. All-in all a much more relaxed and in my opinion safer ride.
And cash in fuel ...
But literally i was the slowest car on the road by driving at 120
A very very good question. Thanks for raising.
I think people drive faster because
1. They travel the route so often, they think they know exactly where the cameras are and take a chance on mobile cameras (which are not so often on highways)
2. They take advantage of the rule - fine is only when you do more than 10% above the limit (at least 100 and 120 KMH areas). I checked many times, they drive exactly at 110 and 132 KMH - cruise control. 10% does not apply in 50 and 30 zone, I think. I rarely see any one speeding here.
3. Foreigners, Tourists, new comers who do not know (yet) how strict the Swiss are and how many speed cameras there are.
...whatever the weather conditions or the amount of traffic...
Radars allow some leeway.
Hence :
Official Speed Limit (120) + leeway (6%?) = Actual Speed 127
(all speeds measured by GPS, not speedo)
And all those people who drive at the speed limit, and in the right-hand lane (not the overtaking lane), find driving impossible because of the left-lane hoggers who prevent them from pulling out to overtake.
Why do people only see the world from their own selfish little point of view?
there is not such a rule. your speedometer is just not so accurate.
Same here. And my fines were a lot higher.
I just couldn't understand things like why I should keep 120 kph at 5:30 Summer morning on an absolutely empty straight (at least 3 km visibility) piece of highway between Bern and Geneva. I did this route every week, Zurich to Geneva, stating from Zurich a 4 am. Speeding saved me up to 30 min every time. 2:50 door-to-door instead of 3:20.
I don't do this anymore.
The fact that you can do it doesn't mean that you may .
But more important is that speeding is a bad habit .
+5 kph above the limit is OK imho - provided there is no threat to anyone (no traffic, good visibility and road condition) - everyone does it because there's a 10% (?) tolerance on most speed cameras, and the speedo adds some 3-4% too.
No fines on highway since 5 years. Some in 30km zones, usually CHF 40 - for 1 to 3 kph violations - I just forget to watch the board all the time.
Meh, I usually crack along at 130 - 140 when I know there are no cameras around and the road, weather, and traffic conditions are appropriate. Had a handful of small to large fines over the years, but no ban as yet.
120 is too low anyway
Malta has a theoretical speed limit, not too sure how high or low as nobody can actually reach it without having their vehicle disintegrate around them in the pot craters. The saying goes that the British drive on the left of the road and the Maltese drive on what ́s left of the road. But having said that we do have a handfull of fixed radar stations that are announced by signs well in advance.
Gwon, ask me how many times I have been ticketed.
I got I think two 23 EUR parking fines when going for a meal around Spinola bay but no speeding fines.
Mind you, my Smart would have catapulted into orbit from a pothole or I'd have decapitated myself on a 60 year old truck if I'd tried to go fast
<< the right-lane hoggers>>
A new category? Not heard of those yet