What applies to speeding: fine of 38,000 francs for speeding – why so high?

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More than 38,000 francs, that’s how much a Valais sports car driver has to pay. Its downfall was a straight, clear stretch of road through the Schallberg Tunnel on the Simplon Route. The police have known for some time that some people cannot resist pressing the accelerator a little harder.

In the summer of 2023, the man in question also fell for the speed camera. Shortly before the tunnel entrance, he accelerated his Maserati Ghibli to 91 kilometers per hour instead of the permitted 60. In keeping with the car manufacturer’s motto: “The Ghibli does not adapt. He makes his own rules.”

If the young man, an innkeeper, had nothing else to his name, he would probably have gotten away with a suspended fine. But at the beginning of 2023, he had already driven far too fast, grossly violated traffic rules and was fined 90 daily rates: conditional, two years’ probation.

Therefore, the punishment was much harsher the second time. If a criminal commits the same offense again while on probation, the criminal justice authority must combine the punishment for the first incident with that for the second, creating a total punishment. In this case that definitely meant 120 daily rates. Due to the financial circumstances, the public prosecutor’s office came up with a daily rate of 315 francs. The end result, including the procedural costs, amounts to almost 40,000 francs.

How do the criminal authorities determine the sentence and what happens to the identity card? The most important information:

That depends on where they were driving and how fast. The Swiss Conference of Public Prosecutors (SSK) has issued sentencing recommendations in the form of a table. Anyone who exceeds the speed limit by even a little is simply committing an offense and usually gets away with a fine. Outside the city, for example, if you do not drive more than 20 kilometers per hour too fast.

At higher speeds there is already a simple traffic violation – outside the city, so from 101 km/h when 80 km/h is permitted. You will then be punished with a fine plus legal costs.

And anyone who drives even faster will be found guilty of a serious traffic offense and sentenced to a prison term of up to three years or a fine.

That the perpetrator will be given another chance and will not have to pay a fine or go behind bars for the time being. However, this only works if the criminal justice authority imposes a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years. In addition, the authority must believe that the person will not commit another crime, even if the sentence has not yet been carried out. A probationary period of two to five years is given.

Even then, the person does not get out completely free: he has to pay the so-called connection fine. In principle, the criminal law authority always imposes this when it grants conditional enforcement. The fine amounts to 20 percent of the total fine.

The road traffic service does not detect any violations. Violations of traffic rules, on the other hand, are reported to criminal authorities. The agency must then initiate an administrative procedure. Depending on the severity of the offense and the history, the sinner will only receive a warning or have to surrender his ID. Anyone who has committed a serious traffic violation, for example by driving 25 kilometers per hour too fast in a 30 km/h zone, will lose his permit for at least three months.

If he exceeds the speed limit extremely, this means:

• in the 30 km/h zone: approximately 40 km/h
• In urban areas (speed limit 50): approximately 50 km/h
• outside the city (speed limit 80): about 60 km/h
• on highways (speed 120): about 80 km/h

Criminal authorities must generally impose a prison sentence of at least one year. However, in the autumn of 2023, parliament decided that this no longer has to be mandatory. For example, if someone has not previously been guilty of anything and the punishment would be an unnecessary hardship. The judge can then impose less than a year.

In principle, you must surrender your identity card for at least two years. And if they relapse again within five years, they will never be allowed to drive again. Unless you can provide a positive traffic psychology report.

If the criminal authorities have imposed a prison sentence of less than one year, the road traffic department may confiscate the identity card for less than two years, but it must be at least one year.

Source:Blick