These rules apply to speed cameras

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This has certainly happened to most people: Once you don’t pay attention and you drive past a speed camera too fast. A few days later, the fine due is in the mailbox. Even on well-known routes where you know the location of the speed cameras by heart, you are not exempt from this. But where can such measuring devices be installed?

Last year, 1,086 of these “calibrated automatic speedometers for official road traffic measurements” were in use in Switzerland. This is what speed cameras are called in the official German of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) “Regulation on measuring devices for speed controls and red light surveillance in road traffic”. These include temporary, i.e. mobile and fixed, permanently installed systems.

In Switzerland, no one knows for sure: in the city of Zurich alone there are 87 permanent metal police – even more than the radar measurement systems of most cantons. However, the exact figures for the individual cantons are not known. But that could soon change: Cantons are now starting to disclose the locations of permanently installed speed cameras.

In March this year, the canton of Zug rejected the proposal to publicly report radar positions. But other cantons are transparent here: Schaffhausen and St. Gallen announce the locations of mobile systems, Basel-Stadt only announces fixed ones. The canton of Lucerne updates an online map every hour with the locations of the stationary and mobile light boxes. Does announcing places prevent the deterrent effect? On the contrary, according to traffic psychologists: The purpose of site approval by the cantons is to make dangerous roads even safer, where speed cameras serve to ensure traffic safety.

Even if some cantons publish the location of speed controls: radar detectors and speed camera applications are still prohibited in Switzerland. The Federal Office of Highways (FEDRO) declares that it is a punishable offense to release such applications or devices as well as to use them. Therefore, if you are caught using a speed camera app while driving, you should expect a hefty fine. Public alerts are also not allowed, for example, in group chats or via social media. Only communication in the immediate environment – for example informing a partner – is legally permitted. Turning on your headlights or making hand signals to alert others to a metal cop is also prohibited and may even result in a fine.

The responsible police force decides the locations itself. However, there are almost no rules: it does not have to be visible or at a certain distance. According to the Swiss Signaling Regulation (SSV), the speed is valid from the signal time and location. This means that the maximum speed of 50 km/h applies directly from the Tempo 50 mark. In theory, speed cameras could even be mounted directly on the sign. However: Reflective surfaces etc. Inaccurate measurements should not be made for reasons. In 2021, a camouflaged speed camera on a garbage truck in the city of Zurich made a mess. In the same year, in Dübendorf ZH, a flashbox was installed in the car: Smart, standing in the no-parking zone, flashed in front of him.

In addition to improving safety on Swiss roads, cities and cantons also benefit from fines imposed. This amount is increasing from year to year. According to the Federal Financial Administration, 936 million Swiss francs were collected from speed camera fines in 2019. In 2021, the city of Zurich alone received CHF 59.9 million. For comparison: the only tin police officer permanently stationed in the canton of Aargau in Baden brought a fine of about 2.25 million Swiss francs for the city in the same year. The highest speed bus in Switzerland remains that of a then-28-year-old Swiss man in 2011: it blew up at 324 km/h on the Bentley Continental on the A1 in Vaud, for which he was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

Source: Blick