I wish they would do this more often!

Nostalgia! 25 years ago, it was accepted practice to use flashers/sirens from one apéro to the other. Admittedly, sometimes things got a bit topsy-turvy

In my experience Swiss police radio requires a 2nd antenna, that BMW has only one. Swiss number plates have the Swiss coat of arms on the left, that'll be red when blurred. The blue on OP's picture points to EU plates, like French and German, suitable for the A1 close to the border if that's where it was.

So no, that's not a Swiss police car. German or French maybe, as a German she should be able to form an opinion at least about the former or know where to enquire with the German authorities.

Maybe the Germans still want to hand her that old fine she wrote about, claiming the usual "it's not my fault"

I thought the OP post #1 was quite clear that the original pix was stock (…similar to those in the image) and that the “very weird encounter” took place on the A1 – presumably in CH – not in D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesautobahn_1

Anyway, I suggest we deport her as she seems reluctant to pay fines and it might help improve our relations with the EU.

My father used to be careless about not using his turn signals (it was the US after all, where chaos reigns!) and I would always give him shit about it. His defense was usually "There's no one around!" to which I countered "You signal for what you don't see."

Anyway, good on them for issuing the ticket for not signalling.

So, question. You arrive at a roundabout with four entries/exits, basically a replacement for a four-way stop, like this:


You intend to take the second exit, i.e. continue "straight" ahead.


Upon entering the roundabout, do you turn on your left blinker (to say you will not take the first exit)? Or keep blinkers off until you are past the first exit?* Or...?


* At which point (either way) you should turn on your right blinker to signal that you are now ready to exit. But the question is whether you blink left before blinking right.

In Switzerland the rule is that you must signal your intention to exit the roundabout so in this case you would indicate right once you’re past the first exit in order to signal that you are taking the next exit.

There is no obligation to signal at all when entering the roundabout unless you are leaving at the first exit.

Indeed, my fiance freaked out when I turned on the left indicator going into the roundabout when I was leaving on the 3rd exit, because here they only indicate when leaving. Very odd.

Just different.

Sure, Germany's A1 doesn't even come close to the Swiss border.

The neighboring state's law enforcement has been given the power to act on this side of the border by mutual agreement. Generally, they shouldn't enter deeper than 20km but there's no predetermined limit if the situation demands it.

I got stopped driving my ex- BMW Z4 cabriolet open, in February (the car had AU license plates). It was almost dark, and I was not speeding, was just listening to music full blast . A car passed me, and then hit the brakes in front of me (but did not switch on the 'POLIZEI' sign), I thought they were pranksters, which pissed me off, so I passed them -still within the speed limit-, and screamed at them as I overtook, calling them well, a bunch of things (thanks god in a language that they couldn't understand). They passed me a second time, hit the brakes again, but this time they turned the sign on.

When we stopped, they wanted to understand if i was ...on my right mind (it was - 15C) driving at 110 km/h in February with the roof down, or if I had a technical problem (or if I had stolen the car, and didn't know how to close the roof).
They must be still laughing.... I was coming back from skiing, had bought two sets of skis... and between the skis, the bags, and the snowboard... well, there was no physical space to close the car!.

p.s Yes - cabriolets have VERY good heating systems...

What are 'AU' plates?

Tom

Actually, one must not signal here in Switzerland while entering the roundabout.. unless taking the first exit (right signal). Still fresh from the driving exam! ;-)

In Geneva, the instructors teach, and examiners permit that you signal left as you enter a roundabout (if turning left obvs) and signal your intention to come off the roundabout.

This is because that’s the rule in France, and the cross border folks forget that them darn rules are different in Switzerland.

the philosophy is simple, when you are in a roundabout you are in a lane and to stay in the lane you don't need to signal anything.
You signal when you want to exit the lane.

Signaling to stay in it doesn't hurt IME but it's also not needed because if someone is not signaling to exit then you have to assume they will stay inside, in any country, for your own safety, since a certain % does not signal at all in roundabouts, even when they see that it would be in other people's interest to know so that they don't have to brake (luckily few people in switzerland but still, i had to stop my bike uselessly tonight).

Austria!!! Better than when I got stopped with my Slovakian-bearing licencse plates car bringing into Switzerland 100 bottles of wine on the trunk.... but that's another story :-)

Austria is AT

Australia is AU

They do in Neuchâtel too.
My son’s instructor told him that it was fine to signal left when entering the roundabout if taking the third exit but there was no legal obligation to do so.
He said it had become a recommendation here but not an obligation.

Actually, it's 'A' for vehicles.

Tom

.at and .au are the internet country codes for these countries. Their car insignia are A and AUS respectively (Down under, cars are state or territory registered..although you can order number plates in so many colours and format variants there it is now almost impossible to tell the difference).