Taxes are lower here, make it up in fines & costs!

Fu.. me.
I swear, Swiss police would probably find something to fine you for even if they pulled you over as you were exiting a car showroom with a brand new car with 0.1 of a km on it.

I drive old cars, been stopped about 6 times in 17 years, never fined for anything.

When I came to Switzerland 3 years ago, I was stopped 20 minutes after crossing the border, and the police officer fined me CHF 100, for having 2 different tires. They were the same brand, but 1 had punctured earlier and been replaced. Unfortunately the replacement had a line in the middle, that the original tire did not, so that was reason enough to fine me, even though it was same brand :-(

At least he said, that I should keep the receipt, in case I got stopped again, so I had evidence i already had paid the fine for it, but I should replace them fast.

Doc.

__________________
‘I had a bottle of whisky that I’d bought to take with me when I go to visit friends in Canada, but I thought, “I’m not opening that for him!”
- Gillian Duffy when Gordon Brown visited her

same here, I make sure they have nothing to find on it. although I must admit I passed the inspections with tires that were not correct for my max speed....he said it was ok this time .

1000chf they would really have to get the police to come and get the money from me. I would simply not pay and do everything to get it to go to court.
that is simply a ripoff. honeslty id rather pay the extras in fines just so they have to wait longer and spend some more resources on it.....Are you coming back after you leave for NYC?

It's already been to court....... A judge has decreed....... Aviud paying & you will feel pain!

Yep, and I'm sure most of us are conscientious enough to make sure our vehicles are road worthy, but do so in the real world - I mean hands up, honestly, who checks the profile on their tyres on a daily or even weekly basis?

The OP claims his garage said they were ok a month before - tbh, I would have been happily driving on them too.

This fine smacks of opportunistic money making from the police & is totally disproportional to the offence committed - what the hell is wrong with a simple 'please change your tyres within 5 days & send us the proof'.


And that's another thing: What happened to people's right to question without fear of being financially slapped further?

I suspect Swiss people never believed they had the right to question what they are told. Soldiers don't ask questions.

The fine is not that high, the costs are normal, the OP is guilty. In CH if you break the law it cost money! The OP is driving an expensive car, if the fine was based on ability to pay I am sure it would be far higher.

I respectfully disagree. It's bloody high in proportion to the offence IMO.

The admin fees exceed the fine, quite normal. A single bald tyre is 100chf fixed penalty, 2 tyres goes before a judge.

Speeding fined can exceed 250,000 CHF, in CHF things are expensive, which is why people are paid more than in neighbouring countries. It's just part of living in CH.

Still doesn't make it right.

It's effectively criminalising ordinary people over small offenses/issues that could be solved in a much more civilised manner that benefits all concerned.

Hey-ho - Just saying like.

It's not criminalised in any way, this is merely an administrative matter. 1 bald tyre is solved by a fixed penalty. 2 bald tyres is considered taking the piss, I doubt the OP will do it again so the roads will be safer for the rest of us.

Wow, just read this that's expensive.

No advice I'm afraid, but I'm just popping outside to check my tires now so thanks for that!!

for 0.1mm i would have challenged it earlier, was the tyre pressure correct, was the gauge calibrated and when etc etc there are lots of if's involved.

what notifications did you get about the fine?

i had something similar in Uk (Yes i know its not UK but just as an example....)

got stopped, plod said both front tyres are low and below legal minimum..... issued me a fix it notice and would be reporting me.

i knew they were not, had them inspected and recorded and removed as plod had put an ident mark on the tyre.

i wouldnt accept the fine/points so went to court, requested the plod attends as witness..... judge threw it out after a short discussion because the legal min is 1.6 for the middle 3/4 of the tyre... this doesnt include the shoulders and the tyres in question have less tread on the shoulders as standard.

Love the fact that there is always 2-3 sides...Come on my wife was alone, trust me if I was with I would have asked 100 questions. It was two young officers, one still a baby...

I am glad that some of you can sleep better now and feel safe we got new tires...please!

Two months passed and we just got the letter with the fines as previosly stated. This is the first traffic ticket since we got her, not even the damn radar's clicked yet...In my mind it is a rip-off, as some stated, legal mafia...

Tomorrow I will go and discuss this before I shed out 1000CHF...Even the fact that the double charging the 100CHF per tire being below the limit...One ticket for my wife as the driver, and one for me as the owner as well...I dont mind paying the "fat judge" but I am sure he gets some of my "low-tax" as well...Standard answer here is taxes are lower live with it, BS.

Anyways, thank you all who made some sense out of it without throwing punches...

Same here, they gave her a notice to take to the city police within 7 days with the new tires. Which I did the next day. Then couple of the days later the officer who pulled her over called me to let me know, we would get a fine directly from Meilen city - a small fine as he stated...

Now that is sick! What the hell did he measure that with??

Have these guys not heard of discretion???

A tenth of a melimeter? Come on!

I know I know...I wish I was there. My wife was in the car the entire time, and did not see what he was doing. He asked her twice where she was from, eventhough its clean on the license USA...I am afraid not much will change but I cannot wait to walk into the office tomorrow at 8:30...

And post the result here by 9

No, it's not.

Tom