Driver driving the wrong way in the emergency lane on the A1: Does video count as evidence?

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Brazen, extremely dangerous and inexcusable: these were the reactions of the police, experts and Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) to the ghost driver in the rescue lane from Uzwil SG on Monday morning, 18 March 2024. An accident involving six vehicles this morning occurred in St. It caused the closure of the A1 motorway towards St. Gallen between Wil SG and Uzwil. For about 2.5 hours nothing worked and traffic was backed up.

Example: Drivers leave the emergency lane between the two left lanes. Careless and dangerous: A wrong-way driver uses them to get away from traffic jams against the direction of travel. A video from the traffic camera shows how the vehicle reversed towards Wil – without considering the possibility of approaching emergency vehicles and without the opportunity to avoid it. Police are now appealing for witnesses and searching for the wrong-way driver. The question arises: can a video from a traffic camera or dash cam of a car stuck in traffic jam be considered legal evidence?

People want car cameras

Blick users often state in their letters to the editor and comments that dashcams can be used to catch speeders and hooligans, thus improving safety on the streets. The police force receives unsolicited dashcam footage of traffic violations. In a survey by online comparison portal Comparis, 70 percent of respondents said they supported the use of dashcam footage in court. According to the research, more than half of the participants believe that mini cameras can contribute to correct driving behavior.

But even if dashcams are not explicitly banned, it’s not that easy in Switzerland. The use of records is sensitive for data protection reasons. Recordings may be allowed if faces and license plates were pixelated during filming, but in this case they are useless. Cars with dashcams are unmarked and record everything and everyone, identifying license plates, faces, location and often time. This situation is against personal rights, because every person has the right to decide on their own records.

Registrations are inherently illegal

For this reason, the Federal Court stated in its basic decision that dashcam records of private individuals generally cannot be accepted as evidence. Greater emphasis should be given to protecting the privacy of other road users. But there are exceptions: The Federal Court classifies dashcam footage as evidence illegally obtained by police.

Such recordings, which are illegal in nature, can be used as evidence in the case of serious crimes if the seriousness of the case justifies it. In traffic law, it is considered a crime that results in the revocation of a driver’s license for three months or more. This would likely be the case in the case of a driver driving the wrong way in the emergency lane, due to the potential danger of his action. As traffic law expert Patrik Mauchle explains on TV Ostschweiz, in extreme cases, simply driving against the direction of travel can result in three years’ imprisonment or a fine and long-term license revocation.

What about public cameras?

The situation is different for cameras used by public authorities, i.e. authorities or similar persons, as shown in the October 2022 “Video surveillance by public authorities (except law enforcement)” guide of the data protection officer of the Canton of Zurich. According to paragraph 3.6, it is possible to transfer video data to public authorities at municipal, cantonal or federal level for criminal or civil proceedings. Unlike private dashcams, such public sector cameras are assumed to be operated in compliance with data protection and privacy laws.

This means that video from a traffic camera should definitely hold up in court. The Federal Highway Office Astra uses around 60 such cameras in northeastern Switzerland to monitor traffic flow and intervene when necessary. But video is unlikely to aid the search; resolution is too low.

Source: Blick