So this is weird. A few weeks back I was driving in a sixty zone. I know it was sixty because I saw the sign and my car was also indicating sixty. The car then indicated that a 50 zone was approaching, which I knew, so I started to slow down. In that very moment, I was flashed. Ticket arrived today - 120chf for doing 59 in what they claim was a 50 zone. Thing is, the camera is on the border between the two zones. I was physically still in the 60 zone! Thoughts? Is it even worth contesting these things?

Was the camera placed after a “village name” sign? This would also indicate that the speed limit has changed to 50 although not explicitely states with 50 speed sign, it actually becomes 50.

This is more common in Germany (yellow rectangle with black writing) and most Swiss villages explicitely indicate the inner city speed limit along with the “village name” (blue rectangle with white writing)

Calling the police and asking doesn’t cost you anything, they will for sure be happy to explain what happened there. I doubt it very much that they got this wrong.

If I understand correctly, you're saying that the camera was probably positioned just inside the 50 zone and flashed you from the front, recording you travelling at 59 in what was left of the 60 zone -- correct?

First thing I'd do is go and take a photo of the speed camera (assuming it's a fixed camera), or better still, take a video of the road leading up to the camera, showing all signs where possible. Then, if you're right about the circumstances, write to the police and submit the video. Even if you were 10 cm away from the 50 zone with no prospect of slowing down to 50, you would be in the right. Being potentially about to break the speed limit is not an offence!

If the camera wasn't fixed, request its exact location from the police.

There are further steps you can take, such as requesting the service records of the camera (they have to be up to date, within specified limits), but first of all, check whether you were in the right.

So, I stand corrected. They changed the speed limit It was dark, I didn't see the sign had changed and I relied on my car info.
I just went back there just now and they must have changed it in the last few weeks because it says 50 now. Google maps stl has the old sign and my car still thought it was 60!
A fair cop I guess. Bah.

that's why i paid too much for the option that actually reads the speed limit signs. works in temporary limits too then (and the dark).

In Switzerland the city limit sign is just that, a city limit sign. The speed remains what was indicated before. The only relevance ragarding speed or actually speeding is that the fines will be much steeper inside the city limits.

In such a case the OP may well have a case then. Unless he missed the speed sign.

Would seem very strange though that the police would position the camera in such a spot. The aim in such a location is clearly to catch people who are carrying speed from a 60 zone to a 50 zone.

Having been caught by such a trap before, where I kind of forget to reduce the speed in a familiar road and having seen the temporary camera early on in the day. The irony was that after the tolerance I was actually over the limit by 1km/h that was my first speeding ticket in Switzerland after 7 years of driving here, cost me a small fortune CHF40.-!!!

Still 120 chf is a cheap ticket

It is a bit tight though. Lowering the speed limit, then bunging in a camera to catch out those used to the higher limit.

Last year I was flashed around 5:00 am on the autoroute to Geneva, in the Lausanne area. My hire car agency billed my credit card 50 francs "for transmitting my licence information to the Lausanne police". I received no notice of any fine (in Florida) but this was the time of Hurricane Maria, a letter could have been lost. Months later I emailed the Lausanne police explaining that and copying the car hire firm's email to me. The police replied that they had no record of any offence on my part. I can only suppose that I exceeded the limit within the allowed margin; after all I was one of a stream of cars early in the morning.

If you were "within the required margin" you simply wouldnt get a ticket and there'd be no request from the police for your details. The charge from the car rental company sounds fishy to me.

This is not worth contesting unless you have a lot of time on your hands (and still, they could say they cannot provide evidence of you speeding blah blah). If you pay the fine on time you'll still have a spotless (I assume) record and that's not such a small thing if you want to stick around - when applying for the C permit, citizenship etc.

Might just be that the police didn't think it worth the hassle of pursuing the fine to the USA and wrote it off.

Though I'm surprised they didn't pass it on via the rental company.

I concede that I was flashed but still think I was very close to the limit. And I have preserved the email from the Lausanne police.

'Zackly. And who ever heard of any Swiss police force giving up on a revenue opportunity?

If Caryl is concerned about the CHF 50, she could write to the car rental company (with supporting evidence from the police) and ask for a refund, but it's probably not worth pursuing beyond that point.

Well yes. Except that a few weeks ago I hired a car from the same firm (I actually rent through an aggregator so don't know which desk I'll be going to until I've paid) and when I returned the car they said there was CHF 1,050 damage. Well, OK, I pay with a Chase Sapphire Reserve VISA card and they are primary on CDW so not my problem. While at the airport I scanned the bill and sent it to Chase. While in the business lounge I got an email from the hire firm: while the damage wasn't on their computer, she had checked the video they take of every car on return, and the damage wasn't my fault: CHF 1,050 refunded to my credit card.

As it happened with the foreign exchange that still cost me $7 whereas if the CDW had paid it would have cost me zero. So I complained to Chase who refunded the $7 too.

So: CHF 50 is no big deal in the perspective of things.

I wonder if its a money making scheme in CH

Not possible. Road safety is definitely their only objective.

That's why I always use camsam to warn me of the cameras and their actual limits.

I drove 1.000KM yesterday with a tomtom and an onboard speed limit indicator in the dashboard, it is amazing how often these had different opinions on what would be allowed and often even both were wrong, even the tomtom which was updated a day before is absolutely not to be trusted for max speed indications. The only trusted option is to look at the signs.