Skip to main content

Switzerland likely to cut speed cameras by 50%

The Swiss National Council has approved a motion by Ulrich Giezendanner regarding the misuse of speed cameras. Giezendanner is convinced that the cameras are used to rip off motorists and he believes that they do not actually increase road safety on the majority of the country’s roads. If the Swiss Council of States votes for the motion as well, the Swiss Federation will only be allowed to approve radar speed cameras on Swiss national roads in areas that are prone to accidents. It is estimated that this wou
June 15, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The Swiss National Council has approved a motion by Ulrich Giezendanner regarding the misuse of speed cameras. Giezendanner is convinced that the cameras are used to rip off motorists and he believes that they do not actually increase road safety on the majority of the country’s roads.

If the Swiss Council of States votes for the motion as well, the Swiss Federation will only be allowed to approve radar speed cameras on Swiss national roads in areas that are prone to accidents. It is estimated that this would mean a reduction of speed cameras on Swiss public main roads and motorways by some 50 per cent. Critics of the motion, such as the road victim foundation Road-Cross, say they are worried that this will increase the number of accidents again.

Related Content

  • EU rules extend the ‘long arm of the law’
    November 27, 2013
    New EU legislation allows authorities to collect fines from errant foreign motorists even after they have returned to their own country. New European Union legislation means drivers in many Member States can be prosecuted for breaking traffic laws when driving outside their home country. While not all the Member States will not be signing up to Directive 2011/82/EU facilitating the cross-border exchange of information on road safety related traffic offences, for those that do the deadline date to impleme
  • Lack of progress in reducing drink-drive deaths has gone on too long says IAM RoadSmart
    February 3, 2017
    The UK’s independent road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has expressed disappointment in yet another year of no significant change in the levels of drink-driving in Britain, based on new Government statistics just announced. The Department for Transport announced that provisional estimates for 2015 show 220 deaths in alcohol related crashes. Some 1,380 people were killed or seriously injured when at least one driver was over the limit. This represents a statistically significant rise from 1,310 in 2014. In
  • FTA backs HGV speed limit increase
    July 24, 2014
    The UK’s Freight Transport Association (FTA) has voiced its support of today’s announcement that the HGV national speed limit on single carriageway roads will increase from 40mph to 50mph. The Government decision followed a public consultation to which FTA had contributed and states that in early 2015 the national speed limit for heavy goods vehicles of more than 7.5 tonnes on single carriageways will increase. FTA said that this decision supports an improvement in road safety by reducing the 20mph
  • Independent analysis finds speed cameras do not reduce accidents
    June 10, 2014
    An independent analysis carried out by engineer Dave Finney of Thames Valley, UK speed camera data has found an increase in injuries after the devices were installed. The analysis, to evaluate the effect of fixed speed cameras on the number and severity of collisions at the sites where they are installed, was carried out on two groups of sites. One group includes all fixed speed camera sites in the Thames Valley area (covering Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire) that were active at the start of 2