While I know it's a tough one and it may not be worth, I am still wondering if anyone tried this: FIGHT the darn speed ticket.

Got a few 57 on 50, the kind of thing you never get in Canada or US ...

Cannot find any good info on this topic, any xCoppers or similar.
Best I could find is this: http://www.oboulo.com/contestation-v...ons-40090.html .

There is a 30CHF fee for the procedure if I am not mistaken, so for the 40CHF ones it's not worth, however for the over 100 ones it may be.

Any input is much appreciated.

Thx in advance.

Speeding is now overtaking (!) 'Where can I buy Marmite' and 'Is my salary enough?' threads.

You broke the law - so pay up...

Thanks very much !

His answer is "No, I never fought a speed ticket." which is not what I am looking for.

Hope for better posts or just save the server's disk space.

They already deduct the error margin of around 5 km/h. For a fine of 100.- you were between 6 and 10 km/h over the limit. What reason do you have to dispute the fine?

You mean they have different rules here?

This post may help you.

First it's just the principle, then for those coming from US/Canada it's at least strange.

10 over is acceptable in N America and most people drive occasionally 10 over when changing lanes, going downhill, etc etc. If the expectation here is to run like a swiss watch I will try to get used to donating 40 bucks every now and then to Police however they better go to Red Cross.

Just to reiterate, I initiate this thread with only one goal :

If anyone can share his/her experience after fighting a speed ticket in Switzerland please share it here.

Debates around speeding, pay if break the law, radar's error margin, etc are NOT what I am looking for, but thanks anyway for this.

What speed were you clocked at?
What was the deduction?

What grounds do you wish to try and fight it?

That's the key question, OP

Get a life and learn the traffic rules.

You have made a traffic offense and have to pay. That's it.

LIVCC: Unfortunatly as you can already see there are many here that go with the " you broke the law so pay" ethos.

you wont get much luck on this ste TBH, and if you post about racing, driving, motorbike filtering etc then also expect some "groans" (i love those so click away people)

switzerland needs a version of pepipoo.

just because an authority says you have broken a regulation etc doesnt mean to say that the basic foundations of that regulation is flawed therefore making it unenforceable. Finding that info is the hard part for non fluent speakers though. If an appeal here ends up in a court situation then its prob not worth the hassle as you will be found guilty anyway especially as the judge and prosecuter can be the same person!

However if it says 50 and you are doing 65 then thats just tough.

It would appear his argument / grounds are..."we were allowed to speed in N.America"

personally having lived in US and Canada , in my experience speed camera's were fairly rare and most times you could talk a cop with a radar gun into being nice with a few "yes sir, sorry sir"s .. here you can't talk the camera into letting you off and while I've never contested a ticket here those I know that have haven't been so fortunate... still had to pay the fine and lost a days work for the trouble.

There's a law which say x km per hour, you under, no problem, you over you pay, the amount is dependent on your excess.

By the way the sign states the maximum allowed, however the law states you need to drive with due care and attention and according to local conditions, but not more than the maximum permitted speed.

These guys really tried to make it as easy as possible for the less talented memebers of the human race, they chose 50km per hour and not 56.5 km per hour to keep it simple.

This just proves one size doesn't fit all

the speed cameras are part of this Swiss rigidity that we all love and hate and which makes the country work so well. these cameras are all over europe and in some places in america too... I don't see these automated cameras behaving any differently in america.
Some cities in the US actually removed red-light cameras because they weren't generating enough revenue! Goes to show that when people know there's a machine somewhere they will behave and so should you.

when the camera is automatic and not with an actual human being it's only reasonable to expect it to be very strict.


That document you posted is for contesting a ticket if you weren't the one driving your vehicule that got flashed. Unless you can find someone else to put the blame on you will have to pay.

what can you do? Request service information on the camera to prove it's well calibrated?

you were speeding, you got caught, there's nothing you can do about it but pay up.

I think the point here is that there are many reasons why the supposed infringement might not be correct. In the UK you hear about many cases where automated camera fines are overturned due to things like:

- the camera has not been calibrated correctly/according to its maintenance schedule

- incorrect recognition of number plate

- incorrect marking of speed limits (signs not set up as legally required)

In the UK, it is therefore possible to challenge a conviction if you feel it is unjustified and demand to see the evidence of things such as correct calibration/the photo proving it is really you etc etc.

I appreciate that the Swiss are rather more efficient that their British counterparts, but it is only humans and relatively simple machines after all so I can still imagine there are occasional errors. Is it therefore that difficult to accept that the OP wants to know what the rules are around this topic?

It is clear that in many cases it is cheaper just to pay the fine, but on principle I would also like to know that it is possible to challenge the system (and win if there are real grounds for it).

In my opinion the OP is only asking for feedback on "contesting a fine" and if anyone has been thru this process. He is not asking for pro or cons, ethics, moral values, lectures, lessons my opinion or yours. I think he has the right to request for this information here minus the castration

wow! finally somebody gets my point !

THANKS MUCH Geneva !

For the rest:
- I know I have to pay the tickets, I even pay them.
- I know the radar has an error margin that some people consider generous. I don't.
- I didn't know there is a "forum culture" that starts shouting at somebody who is asking a question that BTW was NOT "Has anyone ever killed a cop ? "

Did a consulting project for Ministry of Transportation of a state in N America once. One some of you may be surprised to discover is that the speed limit signs are there for PREVENTING ACCIDENTS in most cases.
(sometimes for noise, pollution, etc)

If yo drive a Mini at 57km/h on a 50 km/h limit, you still break and handle the car way better than somebody who drives a minivan or a small truck say 49km/k on a 50.

When they place the speed limit in some areas, they start from top to bottom - i.e I don't want (say) a Fiat Ducatto van to go more than 50 km/h here. Minis should be ok going 57 in the same are in my opinion (and most counties Police).

Additionally, in N America (and I tend to believe UK, Australia) they are concerned about the public's perception when they start collecting pennies for insignificant offenses. Not a good source of revenue - collect 40$ for a ticket, Police's/Government's costs are 50$ to process from one end to another, plus didn't save anyone's life.

In Switzerland they prefer this 40 CHF pickpocketing which I find strange and cheap, but I accept I may be wrong.

I guess most of us find it strange that you can't get your head around the concept that, as has been said here before:
It might be helpful for you to remember that you're not in North America anymore, and Switzerland works - in many senses - like clockwork because the authorities insist on an adherence to their rules. Whether you think the rules are silly or not is not really the question.

however its prob best to re read genevas post again, i see exactly what the OP and geneva is getting at.

Speed limits are arbitary limits. As the OP most recently mentions there is a huge difference between braking capabilities of different vehicles and also different drivers.

However the limits are set - and law abiding drivers should obey them. Or in other words - the law is an ass.

There are instances when laws are broken for seemingly legitimate reasons - and these are used as defence in a court of law.

In theory you should be able to fight a speeding fine in Swizterland but I suspect you would need to have an exceptionally good defence - and/or excuse. Trying to get off on a technicality may prove challenging in Switzerland.

I'm not sure how it is in the US, but in Canada if you get too many speeding tickets, your insurance will go up, potentially making it impossible to get insured after a certain point. That's one of the main reasons why people fight tickets, often paying more on legal fees than the ticket itself just to avoid the charge on their record.

I think the system here is much easier. Pay the fine, and you're done.

You also have to look at the amount of power that a police officer is given in North America compared to here. Catch a Canadian cop in a bad day, and he'll write you a whole bunch of tickets and tell you "if you don't like it, fight them in court". Or... "your exhaust is too loud, this is a street racing modification" without doing a DB test, having your car impounded at your expense and making you take a taxi home.

Here everything is fairly controlled, where an encounter with the police is not the most stressful thing on Earth. Follow the rules, have papers proving legality of all modifications, and you're pretty safe. The occasional camera flash is nothing to get scared about unless you're looking at a 1000+chf fine. If money is a problem, don't speed. Even if you lose your license for a month or so, it's not the end of the world. Good luck getting insurance in Canada after losing your license.

Also, I'd rather know that the speed limit is the limit, not like in Canada where you're always over the limit, hoping that the police won't fine you for 10 over.

BTW, to answer your question, I've never tried to fight a ticket here :-) I've also never received one (knock on wood).