Why this Swiss millionaire copped a $200,000 fine… for tailgating

Switzerland’s no-nonsense strategy to breaking street guidelines has hit the hip pocket of 1 native millionaire notably arduous.

Nau studies a 58-year-old lawyer was tailgating one other automobile in his BMW 5 Series whereas on the A1 motorway close to Zurich in March 2023, with police alleging the person was eight to 12 metres away from the automobile in entrance whereas travelling at between 110 to 120km/h.

At 110km/h, a automobile covers greater than 30 metres per second, offering little time for the automobile behind to react when it’s inside such an in depth distance.

Fairly than settle for accountability, the person contested the cost, although the Zofingen District Court docket discovered him responsible of tailgating, and subsequently fined the person a each day charge of 1970 francs ($3481) 50 occasions – leading to a complete fantastic of 98,500 francs ($174,050).

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The large fantastic was issued resulting from Switzerland’s distinctive legal guidelines which tie sure monetary penalties to an individual’s revenue somewhat than utilizing a hard and fast charge.

Based on Nau, the person’s annual revenue is sort of 1.7 million francs ($3 million), which means his fantastic was in direction of the higher finish of the dimensions.

Whereas the person subsequently appealed the District Court docket’s verdict within the Excessive Court docket – claiming the space evaluation of his alleged tailgating was incorrect and that the automobile in entrance wasn’t going to brake – the ruling was upheld.

Nevertheless, the Excessive Court docket did give him some reprieve, lowering his unique administrative fantastic charge from 15,000 francs ($26,510) to 10,000 francs ($17,670), although this doesn’t embrace a authorized charge of 5000 francs ($8835).

In whole, the person is dealing with a complete fantastic of 113,500 francs ($200,555) together with charges – considerably greater than the circa-$200 to $500 penalties which may apply in Australia.