2024-03-19 05:42:33
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Everyone has probably exceeded the speed limit and been caught speeding.
Andreas FaustHead of Car & Mobility
Once you’re not paying attention, it’s already happened: everyone has probably exceeded the speed limit and been caught speeding. If the limit is slightly exceeded, a fine of 40 or 120 francs will be due. And you resolve to pay more attention next time and slow down.
But: In some European countries there can be significantly more severe penalties for speeding offenses – up to and including prison, long-term suspension of your driving license or confiscation of the vehicle. Not every country has such a clear definition of who is to be considered a speeder and under what conditions, as in Switzerland. But in many European countries, harsh maximum penalties are defined for significantly exceeding the speed limit, which go far beyond paying a few hundred euros.
More about rules and fines
Surprising: Speeding offenses are not considered to be the offenses with the highest penalties in all countries. Depending on the country, driving without a license or drunk driving are punished with the confiscation of the car or even imprisonment. You can hardly escape these penalties even as a foreigner. In the future, the European Union will rely on increasing standardization of traffic rules and punishments for non-compliance. And police agreements between Switzerland and EU countries increasingly regulate mutual support in law enforcement.
But when do the harshest penalties for speeding in Switzerland and Europe start to apply?
Anyone who grossly violates traffic rules and endangers others will be punished with up to three years in prison. Up to four years in prison can be imposed if “someone runs the high risk of an accident with serious injuries or fatalities by intentionally violating elementary traffic rules” – namely through particularly blatant disregard of the maximum permissible speed, reckless overtaking or participation in an unauthorized race with motor vehicles . This is regulated by Article 90, Paragraph 3 of the Road Traffic Act.
And what is meant by “blatant disregard”? The speed limits are in paragraph 4: This includes anyone who exceeds by at least 40 km/h where the speed limit is 30, exceeds at least 50 km/h where the speed limit is 50, exceeds at least 60 km/h where the speed limit is 80 or at least exceeds 80 km/h where the speed limit is over 80. This means that on the motorway you are a speeder from 200 km/h onwards. The car can also be confiscated, including a rental, leasing or business car. And even if it doesn’t belong to the speeder.
Since March 1st, cars can also be confiscated by speeders in Austria. A speeder is someone who drives 60 km/h too fast in urban areas or 70 km/h outside of urban areas. Then the driver’s license is gone and the car has to be given away, at least temporarily. It will definitely be confiscated for repeat offenders – or if you were 80 km/h or more too fast in urban areas or 90 km/h or more outside of urban areas.
Buses from our neighboring countries
Different countries, different customs: Anyone who receives a fine from abroad and does not pay it can sometimes face difficult consequences.
If you don’t pay a fine from our neighboring country Italy, you will incur very high reminder fees. And the fine can only be appealed in writing and in Italian.
Enforcement assistance is possible for fines from our neighbors France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein – thanks to mutual agreements: the Swiss authorities collect French or German fines and vice versa.
Other countries like the Netherlands can send us fines but cannot enforce them. However, anyone who ignores this can end up on the wanted list and get into trouble the next time they enter the holiday destination.
Different countries, different customs: Anyone who receives a fine from abroad and does not pay it can sometimes face difficult consequences.
If you don’t pay a fine from our neighboring country Italy, you will incur very high reminder fees. And the fine can only be appealed in writing and in Italian.
Enforcement assistance is possible for fines from our neighbors France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein – thanks to mutual agreements: the Swiss authorities collect French or German fines and vice versa.
Other countries like the Netherlands can send us fines but cannot enforce them. However, anyone who ignores this can end up on the wanted list and get into trouble the next time they enter the holiday destination.
Although Germany tightened its fines for speeding offenses in 2020, cars in our northern neighbor are only confiscated after illegal street racing. A driving ban for one month means driving at 21 km/h too much in urban areas and 26 km/h over the limit outside of town.
If the German authorities issue a driving ban against Swiss people, this driving ban does not apply in Switzerland. However, those affected must temporarily send in their driver’s license. The German authorities put a sticker on it and sent it back. From this point on, the ban applies: those affected are not allowed to drive a car in Germany during this time.
Incidentally, so-called “speed camera marathons” take place nationwide in Germany every year, during which massive speed cameras are used to search for speeding drivers. The next date is April 15th to 22nd, 2024.
In Denmark, massively exceeding the speed limit is referred to as so-called crazy driving. Anyone who drives at least 100 km/h and exceeds the speed limit by 100 percent, or who drives at more than 220 km/h regardless of the limit, becomes a crazy driver. As a punishment, the car will be confiscated, regardless of who owns the car.
Anyone caught speeding over 50 km/h in Italy will pay a comparably low 545 euros. The car will be confiscated if you were driving with a blood alcohol level of 1.5 per mille or more. The vehicle will then be auctioned off, but only if it belongs to the owner.
In Poland, drinking and driving is considered so serious that if you drink 0.5 per mille, your car can be confiscated. Speeding offences, on the other hand, are punished comparatively lightly: 500 euros are due for speeding over 51 km/h; In addition, the driver’s license can be retained.
In Spain, a speeder is anyone who drives at over 200 km/h on the motorway or at over 110 km/h in towns. In addition to the prison sentence, the driving license can then be revoked for up to ten years – but not the car.
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