After a week of enjoyable and incidentless driving around the country, I was captured by a speed camera, on my way to return the rental car...

It seems that I was driving +31 kmh overspeed on an autobahn (the limit was 80 kmh, it was just before a tunnel). I received a letter from Kantonspolizei Uri today, they are requesting my personal details.

What will happen next? Should I provide them my details?

What sort of fine to expect?

Table of fines here: https://www.ch.ch/en/driving-over-speed-limit/

It would be summons... what kind of fine would it usually result in? Will they take into account my income, as Im living in another EU country? As a full-time student, my income level is quite low...

This is surely the hard way to learn the rules. Good luck.

I had +30 in Kanton Zürich a few years ago.

The fine was 1,200 CHF and my license was taken away for 1 month.

I was leaving a village towards the Motorway and thought I had gone from the 50 zone to the 80 zone already, so accelerated to 80, and was promptly flashed by a concealed mobile camera. They had set it up so that people would get caught. It worked!

It was "legally" still in a 50 zone, although it was already in the countryside, with no houses or people, so it "looked" like an 80 zone. I was driving at exactly 80, which I thought would help in my defence. It didn't!

I was abroad when the summons came, I wrote a letter to the Court explaining why I was speeding, see the reasons above, and got the fine and the ban. I sent them my license, paid the fine, and when I got back to Switzerland I got my license back with a registered letter. And I think I had to pay for the new license as well.

Wasn't that inconvenient, as when I was abroad I had my International Driving License with me, but the fine was painful, and that was 10 years ago.

Good Luck.

Prison will be an option if you don't want to pay the fine.

Which is useless piece of paper unless you can show it together with your valid domestic license

Serious Speeding - the law, the fines.

Depends on where you were speeding. On the Autobahn? A hefty fine which is NOT based on your income. Inside the city limits? A monetary penalty which is based on your income plus a hefty fine. Plus in both cases court fees.

If you live in Finland you will get a driving ban which applies to Switzerland only. This might come with another bill. The Finish authorities might be informed and they might issue a further ban if the Finish law allows this.

Set aside CHF 1000 and take it from there. Literally. Be happy if something is left after all bills have arrived.

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Indeed as driving whilst disqualified & possibly without insurance will be very serious.

You don't mention where you live or if your license is Swiss or not. I'm assuming you don't have a Swiss license and are not Swiss.

You have two options:
1. Do nothing but see my note below
2. Give your details and wait for the summons and /or fine. They won't care much whether you can afford it or not, but you'll likely be summonsed to court and maybe given the chance to plead by post as you're abroad.

It's unlikely you'll have a ban if you don't have a Swiss license and if the Swiss don't have a reciprocal arrangement, but the fine will be higher. Expect CHF 2,000 - 2,500 plus all the administrative costs including the costs of notifying you of the fine etc.

If you don't pay, or son't give your details, be prepared for a lot of hassle when you next come to Switzerland. Also, Switzerland now has reciprocal arrangements with Germany and some other EU countries, who will assist the Swiss in enforcing the fine and / or summons.

Best really to just come clean and throw yourself at the mercy of the court.
In any case please let us know how you got on as the info can be useful for others in the same predicament.

PS. In my case, as a Swiss with Swiss license, Geneva plates in canton Grison, doing +34kph (I thought the limit was 120 and even knew where the camera was!) it cost me a total of CHF 1,200 and a 1 month ban. But that was 15 years ago and I know things have got a lot tougher since.

Some more info:

https://www.fedpol.admin.ch/fedpol/e...enverkehr.html

It happened on an autobahn (that is stated on the letter I received) in canton of Uri, just before a tunnel. I live in Finland, and do not have a swiss license.

Huh, this does not sound too good... Seems like my one week vacation to switzerland is gonna turn into a very expensive one

Any advice, what kind of statement should I include with my personal details (as they require a statement)? It is best to answer to their letter?

I will in any case let you know how this ends...

It’s a hire car and i guess they got his cc details plus a deposit already taken .....

The hire company will not bill his card for any fine, though they often charge for giving the driver information to the police.

As painful as it is, I'd deal with it and not ignore it.

The only advice I can give, is to apologise and explain what you have told us here. Tell them you're a tourist and not familiar with Swiss roads and the reduction of speed through tunnels and you are looking forward to coming to Switzerland again and will certainly be more aware of the limits and certainly stick to them. You could also mention you are very respectful of speed limits and have a clean licence in Finland, and this was a genuine mistake.

Basically eat humble pie and throw yourself at their mercy! You'll still be fined but they do have some discretion and so can make the fine at the lower end of the spectrum rather than the higher end. Good luck with it all.

you will receive your fine based on the minimum income plus court costs. Would be interesting to know if the license suspension also applies in your home country.

I think you will find the owner of the car is ultimately responsible for the fine, which in this case is the Hire Car company and one thing is certain, it'won't be them paying !


Otherwise it would be far too easy, rent a car, pick up a pile of speeding fines, leave the country without paying......


As for charging, any admin cost is at least Chf 30.--, this goes without saying

No, the Swiss courts don't have the authority to extend a ban beyond their borders. I know of a couple of frontaliers who've had a Swiss ban applied but still retained their licence and ability to drive in their erstwhile home country.

Really? I'm sure there have been cases reported where they have done so. You sound very certain, so I could be thinking of non-Swiss occurrences, but what are you basing this on?

Chemical castration, deportation, and seizure of assets.
And be thankful for just that.

Not Swiss courts but foreign courts based on foreign laws. Swiss traffic law for example has provision that a foreign ban can be also enacted in Switzerland. Art. 16c bis SVG https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classifi...ex.html#a16bis

If you read the actual law https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classifi...138/index.html you will see that the hiring company will not have to pay anything.
- First, because it is not a simple fine according the price list https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classifi...ndex.html#app1
- Second, even if it were a simple fine they are out of the loop as they named the driver: See BGE 6B_1007/2016 http://www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bger/...1007-2016.html

No. It happened on the Autobahn, which means it will be a hefty fine but not income based.
https://www.ssk-cps.ch/sites/default...dv_2016_dt.pdf

Yes, would be interesting to learn about Finish traffic laws and procedures.

The personal details are good enough. There is no need for a statement and the accused can remain silent. Art. 113 Swiss Criminal Code https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifi...ndex.html#a113
As they say. Anything you say can and will be used against you. If you do not say anything they have to assume a standard case of inattention and rule accordingly. The is the best you can get unless you really have a good, water tight, excuse where live was in immediate danger

A weak excuse in my eye. The speed limits signs posted before the tunnels look the same as any other speed limit sign on Swiss roads. And also quite similar to those on Finish roads (apart from the white/yellow color swap).

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