With winter coming on, maintenance work is carried out on the autoroutes, often at night: drivers need to be on the alert for lower speeds, reduced lanes
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 24-year old construction worker from Basel was killed Wednesday night on the A9 autoroute near the Blécherette exit in the direction of Geneva, shortly before 22:00, when a drunk driver hit him and narrowly missed a second worker. The driver, a 27-year-old Frenchman, is being held by canton Vaud police.
The autoroute on the uphill side, direction Geneva, was closed between Blécherette and Villars-St-Croix from 22:10 to 05:00 Thursday for the investigation.
The workers were in a central lane closed to traffic, marked with cones and flashing lane closed signs, while they carried out maintenance on winter salt distributors. Only the right lane was open, with the speed limited to 80kph. The driver joined the autoroute at Blécherette and immediately attempted to overtake another vehicle, in the closed lane. He hit a police cone and then the workers; one was thrown a dozen metres while the other narrowly escaped, but with bruises, say police.
The driver’s alcohol level was 1.9, nearly four times the legal limit, which is 0.5 per thousand in Switzerland.
The construction crews were provided with psychological counseling during the night.
Matterhorn victims identified
Jungfraujoch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The weekend of 15-16 October was a deadly one in the Swiss Alps, with three people dead and one in critical condition following three separate accidents at high altitude.
Speedflyer fails on takeoff from Jungfrau
A speedflyer died Saturday 15 October when his Jungfrau takeoff failed. The 25-year-old Swiss man, paragliding with skis, was with two friends whose flights went off without a hitch at 14:00, but for reasons that Bern police have not provided, he had trouble taking off. He ran into a wall of ice and fell to his death. The trio had left from the Jungfraujoch, a popular tourist destination, to climb to the top of the Jungfrau, at 4,158 metres.
The young man’s body was recovered from a crevasse by a Club Alpine Suisse search and rescue team working with Air Glaciers.
One climber has died and a second is in critical condition after they fell while ascending the north face of the Matterhorn Sunday.
Grand Combin claims 20-yr-old
A 20-year-old Valais man died early Sunday 16 October after he slipped while climbing the Grand Combin in canton Valais. He and a friend had just left the Valsorey hut in order to climb the Combin de Valsorey, 4,184 metres. He was wearing hiking boots equipped with crampons when he slipped and fell about 400 metres to his death.
Zermatt North Face: roped pair fall
One climber, age 43, was killed and his companion critically injured after the first man apparently slipped on the North Face of the Matterhorn, at 07:30 Sunday morning and the pair, who were roped, fell several hundred metres. The two, both Italian and from Brescia, were climbing up, taking the Schmid route, when the accident occurred at about 3,700 metres. The second climber, in his 20s, was flown by helicopter to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne and is listed in critical condition Sunday evening.
Too many weekend night crashes and injuries, says the Swiss safety council
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Nearly half, 48 percent, of all road deaths/critical injuries from road accidents are young people ages 18-24, with 42 percent men and only 6 percent women.
Too many road accidents in Switzerland occur late at night or in the early hours of the morning after discos and bars close on weekends, with a high percentage linked to young male drivers, a study released 11 October by the Swiss safety council shows.
The group is recommending several preventive measures.
Injuries sustained in road accidents tend to be reduced in number and severity during the week, as the night continues. Weekend nights, statistics show the opposite, with a far higher risk of young men causing an accident. The most common cause is the driver losing control of his car and crashing into a stationary object.
The decade from 1999 to 2009 saw an annual average of 52 people killed on weekend nights with 410 critically injured, on Swiss roads. For every 10,000 road accident injuries, the death toll on weekends is 285, compared to 155 overall.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 56-year-old Swiss man who lived in Ain, France, died late Wednesday 5 October when his motorcycle and a car collided head on, on the Route de Mandemant in Russin, on the outskirts of Geneva.
The man was weaving his way downhill when he attempted to pass one or several cars, say Geneva police, and he was surprised by an oncoming car driven by a 45-year-old woman, who was uninjured but treated for shock. The man died at the scene of the crash.
The man’s death is the ninth on Geneva roads this year and the fourth serious accident involving motorcycles in eastern Switzerland in the past five days, with two other deaths and one person in critical condidtion.
Police are looking for witnesses, who are asked to call +41 22 427 64 50.
Italian dies on Matterhorn late Sunday afternoon
Update 11:50 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The past four days have taken a high toll in deaths and injuries in Switzerland: a well-known wine writer was murdered by her former companion who then committed suicide early Friday, three mountain climbers lost their lives in falls and four youths on a joyride are in serious condition after the car they stole rolled several times.
Murder victim and ex known in food and wine circles
Barbara Dittus-Meier, 47, former editor of Vinum, the European wine magazine, and a widely respected wine authority in Switzerland, was shot at her home shortly after midnight Friday in Baden, not far from Zurich, by her ex-companion, Rui A, a Portuguese chef and owner of the Pergola restaurant in Bad Zurzach, 43. He then turned the gun on himself. Neighbours alerted the police after hearing several shots. The three daughters of Dituss-Meier, ages 14 to 20, were asleep at the time of the deaths, but were awakened by the shots and they discovered the bodies. (more on editor Ellen Wallace’s wine blog, Among the Vines).
Argovian police had previously received calls for domestic violence; the couple had been together for several years but had recently split up.
Youths steal car, lose control and flip it
Fourth local youths stole a car in Stalenried in canton Valais in the early hours of Sunday 21 August, around 02:00, and headed on the cantonal road for Gspon when the driver lost control of the car on a bend.
It rolled over several times, 150 metres down a sloping pasture, before coming to a stop. All four were taken to hospital with serious injuries: two were flown to the Hopital de l’Ile in Bern and two others were taken by ambulance to Visp.
They are 18, 16, 14 and 13 years old.
Fire destroys new barn at its inauguration
A new building described by canton Vaud police as an “ultra-modern” barn that was to house 160 animals starting next week in Grens, Vaud, caught fire and was destroyed Saturday afternoon at 15:00 during its inauguration.
Several dozen people and about 15 animals were there to celebrate the completion of the barn when it caught fire, for reasons that are not yet known. The building housed more than 800 large rolls of hay and straw, and it went up in flames quickly. The animals were taken to safety and no one was injured. The 160 animals scheduled to winter there are currently up in the Copettes alpage near Givrins.
Separate accidents kill 3 in Swiss Alps
An Italian died on the east face of the Matterhorn at 17:30 Sunday and two climbers died in separate accidents 19 and 20 August, bringing to four the number of people who died in one week while walking or climbing in canton Valais.
Police say the Italian was one of a group of five climbing the Matterhorn/Cervin Sunday 21 August when he fell 500 metres to his death on the east face of the mountain, shortly before the Solvay hut, at 4,030 metres. The group was not roped together. Police are trying to formally identify the climber.
A 43-year-old German man who was climbing the Lagginhorn mountain on his own 19 August fell 50 metres to his death, at 3,600 metres. His family became worried when he hadn’t returned home by 20:30 and they called police. A helicopter search failed to find him during the night but found his body when the search was taken up again Saturday morning.
Two Austrian climbers headed up the south face of the Dent Blanche Saturday morning. As they started down, on the south peak at 4,000 metres, at 09:30, one of them, a 27-year-old man, fell 400 metres to his death, for reasons that are not clear.
A 15-year-old Mauritian tourist lost his life earlier in the week while hiking near Martigny-La Combe.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two people were killed this weekend in mountain accidents. A 68-year-old German motorcyclist was killed Sunday afternoon 14 August at the Maloja Pass in canton Graubuenden and his 62-year-old passenger injured when he crashed while passing a caravan being pulled by a car shortly before the final bend at the top of the pass. Initial reports indicate that he hit the left rearview mirror on the car and crashed into the guardrail on the left.
Sunday at 10:35 a climber lost her life in a fall in the area of the Festi-kin-Luecke near Randa, in canton Valais. She was climbing at 3,650 metres and was not roped. Canton Valais police have not released details while identification is underway. They are investigating the cause of the accident, which was unclear initially.
Football and skiing cause greatest number of sports injuries, Swiss safety statistics show
Source: BPU 2011 (click on image to view larger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The greatest number of injuries to children around the home in Switzerland are due to falling from heights, while by age 26 falling on stairs becomes more of a problem.
By age 45 we become wiser about avoiding falls in general, until age 65 when we suddenly fall more often at level ground and once again from heights. But we remain far more careful about stairs in our old age.
The details of how and when we are likely to injure ourselves in accidents are part of the lastest Swiss safety statistics, published Wednesday 3 August by BPU, the Swiss Safety Council.
Accidents cost the country CHF55 million in 2008
The new figures, culled from 2008 statistics, underscore the often-ignored fact that accidents are a major and costly public health problem. Accidents caused more than 61,000 deaths in 2008, the most recent year for statistics and the one covered by the report.
Disease, by comparison, caused some 57,000 deaths.
The figures hold true for every age group: accidents at all ages take more lives than disease.
The total economic burden of all accidents in 2008 was CHF54.8 million, with home and leisure accidents accounting for more than half, CHF30 million. Road accidents cost more than the sports or home/leisure accidents when tangible costs alone are considered, but the longer-term cost of home and leisure accidents is more than double the figure for either road or sports accidents.
The statistics also show that for the three categories of road, sports and home/leisure accidents, the greatest number of people who are disabled or severely injured have had accidents at home, some 29,000. The figures for people disabled or severely injured by road accidents and sports are about the same: some 12,000 people in 2008 for each group.
The highest number of deaths, 1,538, was due to home accidents, followed by road accidents, 329, and sports accidents, 129.
Road accidents, however, carry the greatest risk of disability, severe injury or death, based on the rates in 2008. BPU registered 91,000 road accidents, 310,000 sports accidents and 600,000 home and leisure accidents.
Soccer has the highest per-hour-of-sport incidence of injuries
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US Park Service is reporting one of the worst years in recent memory for deaths in the popular western US national park, Yosemite, reports the Los Angeles Times. Fourteen people have died so far this year, with a California women the latest victim after she slipped while coming down the rain-soaked granite face of Half Dome peak. An influx of visitors, but also lack of understanding the dangers of nature are often involved in the park’s accidents, says the newspaper. Several deaths this year have been linked to water with people dying after falling into swollen rivers or slipping on rainy surfaces.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Three people died in cantons Lucerne, Vaud and Valais over the long holiday weekend, as a result of accidents, and a fourth person is in critical condition.
Police in Valais say a 43-year-old Swiss man died while out hiking Sunday afternoon 1 August. He left the Cabane (hut) Pointe Rouge near Lidde and was planning to do a two-hour walk to the Pointe du Parc, at 2,700 metres, about 15:00. When he had not returned by 20:30 police were alerted. A rescue team found his body shortly before 22:00. He had fallen 150 metres to his death.
An 84-year-old man from canton Bern died Monday when he fell 300 metres among the rocks at the Briefenhorn, near Fluehli in canton Lucerne. His body was retrieved by a Rega helicopter team.
An 19-year-old back seat passenger died early Sunday in canton Vaud when the car he was traveling in went out of control and crashed near Lucens. The 18-year-old unaccompanied driver, who had a learner’s permit requiring an experienced driver in the car, suffered concussions, as did the front seat passenger, age 19. All three youths are from La Broye. Police say the car was traveling at an “inappropriate speed” on a curve at 04:50. A criminal investigation has been opened.
A 55-year-old Valais man is in critical condition after he missed a curve on the Vissoie-Niouc stretch of the Val d’Anniviers road, on his motorcycle. His motorcycle’s front wheel hit the rock wall and he was thrown violently to the ground, say Valais police. His inert body was found in the middle of the road by passersby, at 02:25 Tuesday morning 2 August. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Sion.
Motorcyclists and bicyclists account for 45% of victims who die or suffer serious injuries in road accidents
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of people who died or were injured in road accidents in Switzerland fell below 20,000 in 2010, for the first time since the 1950s, numbers released 19 July show.
Federal Statistical Office annual figures show that 327 people died in road accidents, 4,458 were seriously injured and 19,779 suffered lighter injuries.
The figures show a steady drop since 1992: 61 percent fewer road deaths and 47 percent fewer serious injuries.
Of the 4,785 victims of serious accidents (death, serious injuries) 1,410 were in cars and 1,283 on motorcycles, 864 were on bicycles and 781 were pedestrians.
Motorcyclists are victims of a far higher number of serious accidents in summer, with the figures for deaths and serious injuries almost the same as those for people in cars even though there are far fewer cars on the roads.
The number of bicyclists injured fell in 2010, but the number of pedestrians injured rose. Pedestrians are particularly vulnerable in winter.
“Inattention” is the leading factor behind accidents, with mobile phone use increasingly cited. Inappropriate speed and not giving priority are two other main factors, according to the statistical data.
Ed. note: TSR, in a related article, notes that Geneva and Zurich have the highest car insurance rates in Switzerland
13 mountain deaths this year, 8 of them in July
Grand Combin accident area, where three fell to their deaths Friday (photo: Valais Police)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Alps are taking a heavy toll on climbers this year, with 13 deaths to date, 8 of them in July alone. But Friday 15 July was a particularly lethal day, with five deaths in three separate accidents, coming just a day after a 61-year-old Scottish tourist lost his life when he slipped and fell 200 metres down a couloir near Verbier.
The first fatal accident Friday occurred at 10:00 in the Grand Combins area. Three climbers, equipped with crampons and ice axes, left Valsorey at 05:00 to climb the slopes leading to the Meitin glacier.
At 10:00 they were a few metres from the pass at the foot of the Combin de Valsorey, altitude 3,700 metres, that leads to the Plateau du couloir when one of the climbers appears to have fallen, taking the two other climbers who were roped to him as he fell.
The three fell several hundred metres. A helicopter carried the three bodies down and police are now trying to identify them.
Grand Combin (photo: Valais Police)
A second accident occurred near Saas Grund at 12:10 when a group of seven Germans was climbing the Lagginhorn. They were not roped together.
About 100 metres short of the summit, 3,850 metres, one of them lost his balance and fell several hundred metres to his death.
In a third accident near Arolla, two climbers were rappeling down from the Petit Mt Collon.
The first made the descent without any trouble, but when his companion started down, the rope attached to the rock face gave way and the climber fell 20 metres and died at the scene of the accident.
Formal identification is underway for the Saas Grund and Arolla fatalities.
Friday was a beautiful, sunny day in the mountains, with highs of 25C on the plain.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 9th stage out of 21 in the Tour de France cycling race left Thomas Voeckler wearing the overall leader’s yellow Sunday 10 July, but only after a day marred by accidents that left several riders with serious injuries.
The Tour de France’s summary for the day described the initial damage at 105km of the day’s 208km:
“Alexandre Vinokourov went off the right side the road on a sweeping left bend and into the forest. He was helped back to the road by two Astana teammates but his Tour was over. He was one of four men to abandon the race because of the incident and his injuries included a fractured femur and possible broken hip. Omega Pharma-Lotto also lost its leader Jurgen van den Broeck (with spinal injuries), as well as Frederik Willems (fractured collarbone) and Dave Zabriskie quit with a fractured wrist. It prompted a brief respite from racing for the peloton which allowed the escapees to build their lead to over seven minutes.”
Those who avoided the pileup were not yet in the clear, however, with another accident 35 km later:
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 46-year-old German man died near Loetschental, in canton Valais, about 13:00 Monday 4 July, when his kayak overturned for reasons that aren’t clear. Valais police say he was travelling down the Lonza river near Loetschental with two others, another German and a Swiss man, each in a kayak, when the accident occurred. His companions pulled him out of the river and tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.
The doctor aboard an Air Zermatt emergency helicopter pronounced him dead at the scene.
Trient glacier area accident, Valais: climbers hit by Copt Couloir rockfall
Update 19:50 SION, SWITZERLAND – A French climber died early Sunday 3 July when he and another climber, also French, were surprised by a rock fall. A 23-year-old Valais man died three hours later when he fell 400 metres to his death.
Two French climbers were roped together, climbing the Copt Couloir, heading towards the Tête de Biselx near the Trient glacier, at 06:15 when the rocks fell. One man caught a rock in the head, while the second climber was able to avoid the rocks.
After the rockfall, the rope slipped the length of the corridor and the second climber suffered ankle injuries.
The survivor was flown to a hospital for treatment.
Saas Fee accident: man had just removede rope
A 23-year-old Swiss man climbing near Saas Fee died at 09:25 Sunday morning when he was coming down from the north face of the Stecknadeljoch.
He had just finished rappeling and was unhooking himself in order to anchor himself to the wall when he suddenly fell 400 metres, to the Hohbalm glacier.
Spectacular car accident near St Luc-Vissoie in Valais
A 30-year-old Valais man was hospitalized in Sion after his car flipped over several times on a mountainside and landed 140 metres below the place where it left the road.
The accident happened Sunday morning 3 July at 07:50 on the St Luc to Vissoie road. The driver was thrown from him car as it rolled several times, after he missed a curve to the left.
Car rolled 140 metres down the mountainside, landing on the road; driver is in hospital in Sion
The car landed on the road below, 140m lower.
Police, accompanied by a search dog, checked the area after the accident to make sure there were no passengers in the car.
The driver’s alcohol level was above the legal limit, at 0.96. He was flown to the Sion hospital; police have not given his medical condition.
Click on images to view larger
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 36-year-old Frenchman is in critical condition in hospital following a car accident Friday morning at 08:30 on the Vallorbe-Croix cantonal highway, near the La Cula (RC 251a) crossroad. Vaud police say his car left the road for reasons that are not yet clear; the car hit a bank and ended in trees below the road. Emergency services cut him out of the car and he was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Valais police identify 224 kph driver on autoroute near Sierre
Police say they have identified the driver of a car that was clocked at 224 kph on the A9 autoroute 9 June, following an investigation. The 21-year-old Valais man who lives in the region will likely face charges brought by the district attorney and he has been reported to the highway department services responsible for driver’s licenses.
He was caught going 224 kph on the A9 autoroute at Granges, going from Sion to Sierre, Thursday 9 June at 21:15, an area where the speed limit soon drops to 100 kph.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A woman critically injured Wednesday 8 June when her car left the road near Montherod, canton Vaud, on a wide bend in the Bois Masson, died Thursday in hospital, Vaud police say. The accident occurred about 13:30 Wednesday. The car was heading from Gimel to Montherod.
The 31-year-old French woman’s passenger, a 21-year-old Swiss woman who lives in the area, was hospitalized with less serious injuries. The car left missed the bend for unknown reasons and stopped against a tree after a dozen metres. The driver had to be cut from the car by a team of 12 firefighters called in from Morges, before she was flown by helicopter to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, where she died a day later.
Accident early Friday critically injures young passenger without seat belt
A 22-year-old Bern man is in critical condition, say Vaud police, after the car in which he was a passenger crashed at 02:00 Friday morning 10 June near Avenches. The 21-year-old driver, who was also not wearing a seat belt, is hospitalized in Payerne with serious back and facial injuries. The car was traveling from Avenches to Salavaux at high speed and the driver failed to manage a curve to the right. The car flipped over several times and the passenger was thrown from the car. He was flown to the Hôpital de l’Ile in Bern.
The road was closed from 02:30 to 08:30 Friday morning to allow investigators to make their report.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The four-day Swiss Ascension weekend led to a number of accidents in the Lake Geneva region, police report. A 19-year-old Vaud woman lost her life in the early hours of Saturday when the car she was driving hit the pillar of a bridge on the road between Daillens and Eclépens, near Morges. The accident occurred at 01:20 in the morning.
The car rolled down a slope after hitting the bridge, and landed on the CFF railway tracks. Emergency services were alerted immediately but the woman died at the scene of the accident.
The CFF stopped rail service until 06:30, sending out a team to repair the tracks.
Seriously injured cyclist hit by man pulling out of driveway
A cyclist in canton Valais was seriously injured, but his life is not in danger, with several vertebrae broken during an accident Saturday about 15:30. He was cycling on the road from Lourtier towards Champsec. A 37-year-old man pulled out of his driveway, not seeing the cyclist who was coming along the road from his left. The 36-year-old bike rider hit the front left of the car and was thrown 15 metres onto a bank. Both are from the area.
Spate of carelessness fires in Valais
Canton Valais saw two fires over the holiday weekend. One was in a tile-making plant. The other was in Saxon at a home for adults in difficultly, where a cigarette butt was responsible for causing serious damage but no injuries. The fires came just days after a another blaze in Sierre where a woman left candles burning in her bathroom and the curtains caught fire. The fires caused buildings to be evacuated, but there were no injuries.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old businessman from Staffordshire in the UK is the second person to die from non-road accidents in Geneva in the past week. Stephen Swinson flew into the city Friday 20 May to help take down a steel structure after an exhibition. He was the owner of a steel structures company. The scissor lift platform he was working from tipped over and he sustained head injuries in his 8-metre fall, according to This is Staffordshire.
The accident occurred last Sunday and he was taken to the Hug university hospitals in Geneva. He never regained consciousness before his death later in the week. His wife, children, parents and other family members flew to Geneva after the accident.
His death follows that of a 48-year-old Geneva woman whose body was found by firefighters Friday evening 20 May when they were putting out flames from a blaze at 84, Carl Vogt, where the woman rented an apartment.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 60-year-old man who lives in the area died near Rivaz, canton Vaud, in the early hours of Sunday.
He was driving from Lausanne in the direction of Vevey when his car swerved to the left at 02:15 and crashed into the retaining wall.
A 29-year-old Valais woman died at about the same time, in canton Valais died at 02:00 when her car swerved to the left on the road from Bramois to Grône.
She hit a tree and the car flipped over several times.
Valais police to step up summer road checks, especially in mountains
Valais police say they are alarmed at the growing number of road accidents, many caused by speed, often involving motorcycles.
They announced Monday 23 May that they will be stepping up checks on roads in the canton, home to several resorts and also part of Europe’s North-South road system.
Mountain passes in particular will see more police patrolling: with busy roads, few places to pass and numerous curves, they present a particular danger to motorcyclists.
Valais police are also offering an accident prevention course for bikers 25 June in Bourg-St-Pierre, with various partners and the Valais section of the TCS (Touring Club Switzerland).
Kevin Loetscher reportedly hit by car while walking
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Vaud say a motorcyclist was killed Friday evening on the Ollons Villars-Road, and in canton Valais, a young woman driver who was over the legal limit for alcohol, hit two pedestrians early Sunday. One of those she hit is reported by the Tribune de Geneve to be Swiss hockey player Kevin Loetscher, age 23. Loetscher, notes the Tribune, was one of the most valuable players on the Swiss team, which had just returned from the World Championship in Slovakia.
Valais police have not identified the victims of the accident that took place at 04:30 15 May near a roundabout that is next to the hospital in Sierre. A 21-year-old was slightly injured when he was caught by the edge of the car, but the 23-year-old victim was hit straight on and hospitalized in critical condition. The pair were walking along the edge of the road when they were hit by a 19-year-old woman, whose car came to a stop 20 metres later, say police.
She tested positive for drinking, with an alcohol blood level of 1.56. Switzerland’s legal limit is 0.5.
Vaud motorcyclist dies on Villars-Ollon road
A motorcyclist in his thirties lost his life Friday evening at 18:50 when he was thrown after being hit by a car near Glutières, on the road from Villars to Ollon. He was attempting to pass several cars when one of them swerved to the left. The violent impact led to his death shortly after, despite immediate efforts to save him, say police in canton Vaud.
The road was closed to traffic while police investigated the cause of the accident.
Woman killed near Founex, cyclist killed, driver caught going 201 kph on Valais autoroute
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The long weekend in most of Switzerland, for Easter holidays, has seen a number of incidents on highways and local roads, including a fatal accident near Coppet, canton Vaud, on the A1 autoroute. A cyclist in Geneva was injured when he was hit by a car on the Rue de Lausanne, and two men were stopped for driving at very high speeds in canton Valais.
Woman killed at 9pm Sunday while walking on autoroute
A woman in her fifties was killed after being hit by a car while walking along the A1 autoroute on the Jura side (direction: Geneva) Sunday night 24 April, for unknown reasons. Police have not released any information about her identity. She was hit near Chavannes-des-Bois, near the Coppet/Founex/Divonnes exit, at 21:00.
Her body was thrown across the autoroute and was subsequently hit by several drivers on the lake side of the road.
The autoroute was closed between Vengeron and Coppet, except for one lane in the direction of Geneva, on the Jura side of the road.
Cyclist killed near Satigny, another cyclist injured on Rue de Lausanne in Geneva – driver flees
A 76-year-old man was killed at a roundabout between Meyrin and Satigny, near Geneva, Saturday afternoon when a 22-year-old driver hit the back of his bike for reasons not yet clear. Police are asking for witnesses to contact them at 0+41 22 427 6450.
A second Geneva accident involving a cyclist occurred late Saturday in the city centre. A driver who was headed in the direction of Versoix left the scene of the accident Saturday night near number 14, Rue de Lausanne in Geneva, after hitting the back of a bicycle that was in the pedestrian crosswalk, at 23:05. The 28-year-old woman cyclist fell from her bike and was injured. Witnesses say the car was a dark station wagon, number plates not identifiable. Police in Geneva are asking for witnesses to phone +41 22 427 6450.
Two young men lose licenses on same stretch of A9, near Fully
Canton Valais Police stopped two drivers within seconds, on the same stretch of A9 autoroute near Fully Sunday 24 April at 14:30. The first, a Portuguese man, age 26, was clocked at 201 kph, heading towards Sion. The second, a 23-year-old man from Valais, was clocked at 174 kpm. The speed limit on the autoroute is 120 kph. Police took their driver’s licenses on the spot and they are being handed over to the cantonal public attorney for prosecution as well as the highway department, which has responsibility for licenses and fines related to speeding.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A snowboarder, about age 55 was killed when he crashed into a snow grooming machine in the resort of Grindelwald Wednesday morning 23 March.
The machine’s lights were flashing and the driver attempted to warn the snowboarder, who came over a crest, but he was unable to stop in time. Police are seeking the victim’s identity.
The accident took place at 11:15 on the First slopes.
Rescue column searching avalanche, Bourg-St-Pierre
Geneva and Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four people lost their lives in three separate accidents in the Swiss Alps in 48 hours.
Two of them died Sunday 13 March in an avalanche, bringing to five the number of people who have died in avalanches in the past 10 days in the region, four of them since Saturday.
A 43-year-old Valais man and his 11-year-old son died in an avalanche in Bourg-St-Pierre, not far from Verbier, late Sunday.
A German man who was climbing in snowshoes to the Wildstubel near Leukerbad died Saturday evening after he ran into health problems and was unable to reach safety.
And a Swiss man, age 38, died Monday as he was driving a van up the main road to the Simplon Pass, when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed head-on into a truck driven by a 37-year-old Slovakian man. The truck driver is in serious condition.
Father and son caught by avalanche on dis-used ski slope
Two-wheelers most at risk on Vaud's roads
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The number of people killed in road accidents in Vaud in 2010 is 40 percent lower than in 2003, show new figures for the canton issued Monday 14 March.
Thirty-six people lost their lives in 2010, compared to 63 in 2003. The main factors remain speed, inattention, refusal to give priority and drunkenness.
One-third of the drivers at fault were between 18 and 29 years old, a percentage disproportionately higher than the number of drivers in that age group.
The number of motorcyclists killed on Vaud roads last year was down from 13 to 8, but authorities say this group remains the most at risk.
Accidents overall fell to 5,206, nearly 100 fewer than in 2009, despite some 15,000 more vehicles registered in Vaud in 2010, a 2.9 percent increase.
The number of cars actually on the road appeared to be stable, according to federal figures.
Third avalanche death this week: woman died Thursday in Bern
Update 14 March Geneva and Zermatt, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 57-year-old man from Solothurn died Sunday night 13 March in hospital, the second of two skiers to die from an avalanche near Zermatt Saturday. A 50-year-old man, also from Solothurn, died Saturday shortly after the accident. He was part of a group of 10 people from the Solothurn Swiss Alpine Club who were ski-touring in the Triftjigletscher area near Zermatt when they were caught by an avalanche.
The accident occurred at 17:45 Saturday 12 March.
Three members of the group were carried away by the avalanche, one of whom was dug out by the others. Air Zermatt and canton Valais police sent a rescue team, and the two missing skiers were pulled out and given medical treatment immediately. They were then flown to hospitals in Viege/Visp and Bern, but one of them died en route to hospital.
Skier triggers snow slab break
A 45-year-old woman from canton Bern died Thursday 10 March when she was caught by an avalanche. She and a male companion, both very experienced ski tourers, according to cantonal police, were coming down the Sulegg, heading towards Saxeten, when they decided to cross a slope. She went first and provoked a snow slab to break off. She was carried several hundred metres to her death. Her companion immediately alerted police. He was taken from the area by helicopter.
The woman’s body was found by the rescue team.
The Saint-Jean school in Geneva. In 2009, two kids were hit by an inattentive driver during the last day of classes.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – After a week of holidays students in Geneva are back to classes and police are taking the opportunity to conduct a second traffic safety campaign of the year around schools in the canton.
Authorities will be on the look out, from 28 February to 4 March, for drivers speeding or failing to yield to pedestrians in crossing zones. Police will also be checking for the proper use of seat belts and child seats.
In Switzerland all children 12 and under (or under 152cm) must be secured in appropriate booster seats when traveling in a vehicle.
The controls seeks to avoid incidents similar to those that occurred in 2009.
On the last day of school that year, a 3-year-old and his 12-year-old sister were hit by a driver while on a crosswalk, a few days later, a 7-year-old boy was hit by a truck, nearby a pedestrian crossing.
The Geneva safety campaign is known as PréDiRe.
Fiesch skier dies 2 metres off the piste
Woman dies after Champéry fall, man in Engadine killed by stalactite, ski trekker caught by avalanche
Champery is one of 12 ski resorts that are part of the Portes du Soleil ski region on the Swiss-French border in canton Valais
Update 21:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The number of accidents on mountains in the Swiss and French Alps is climbing, with icy slopes and warmer conditions possibly playing a role. This weekend in Switzerland four people lost their lives doing mountain sports: all were Swiss with alpine sports experience.
Monday 7 February a Bern man, 50, died in Fiesch, in the Goms/Conches valley in upper canton Valais, for reasons that are not clear, say police. He was skiing along the edge of the Obere Galvera run at 2,150m altitude when he fell and ended up off-piste, 2m from the edge of the run, where he died.
No further details are available except that he was wearing a helmet. Police have opened an investigation.
A 65-year-old woman from canton Vaud died in hospital after being flown to the Chuv, Vaud university hospitals, in Lausanne Sunday night 6 February following a fall while skiing in Champéry.
The accident occurred on the Pas de Chavanette in Champéry, a 1 km run with a vertical drop of 331 metres, well known for its moguls.
The run was closed to the public but the woman, her son and his female companion slipped under the nets to go down the run.
Pas de Chavanette's steep and rocky stretch: the slope is sometimes called an orange run - more difficult than normal black runs (photo 2007, Ale de Vries / Wikipedia)
The older woman fell and slid several dozen metres, say police. The younger woman also slipped and suffered a broken collarbone. She was hospitalized in Monthey.
Police have opened an investigation into the accident.
Man hit by falling ice after ice-wall climbing
An ice climber died in a freak accident in canton Graubuenden, in the Engadine region, when a stalactite fell on him. The man was sorting out his gear 30 metres below the giant icicle when it detached and pinned him to the ground.
The accident occurred Saturday afternoon, about 14:00, near Sils, at the entrance to Vallon du Fextal. The man had been climbing with two companions. He died from his injuries the following day.
Uri man dies; cell phones didn’t work in mountainous area
A 39-yar-old man died in canton Uri after he and a friend were caught by an avalanche as they came down from the Vorder Schloss near Attinghaussen. He was wearing an avalanche alert system that allowed his friend to find him and partially dig him out.
The friend was unable to call for help because their cell phones couldn’t pick up a signal in the mountainous area. He left his friend behind after failing to revive him, to call for help.
Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland (Photograph by Keith Halstead)
Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland (Photograph by Keith Halstead)
Pedestrians hit by vehicles, English base-jumper dies and mountain ski-lift jump kills photographer
Update Tuesday 25 January / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A number of accidents have occurred in the region in the past five days, including several road accidents where pedestrians were hit by vehicles. A pedestrian was hit by a bus at Petit Lancy in Geneva Monday morning 24 January, but details are not yet available from the police.
In canton Valais a 76-year-old woman was killed last Thursday when she was crossing the main Visp-Brig road, using a walker and she was hit by a truck. Three days earlier a 20-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being hit by a car driven by a 54-year-old man while she was crossing a main street in Sion, the capital of canton Valais.
Friday, an elderly woman crossing a street in Yverdon-les-bains in canton Vaud was hit and thrown several metres by a driver who then fled the scene of the accident. The woman died later in hospital and the driver, a 40-year-old man from the region, turned himself in to the police 1.5 hours after the accident.
Champéry ski lift jump kills 73-year-old
Police in canton Valais are trying to determine what prompted two hikers who were photographing the region around Champéry to jump off a chair-lift. 24 Heures Tuesday publishes comments made by the brother of the elder of the two men, who died after the jump. He blames no one and says it was simply “a dumb thing” that happened.
Samedan / Engadin airport near St Moritz, canton Graubuenden (photo: wikipedia)
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Samedan Airport, just 5 km from the resort of St Moritz in canton Graubuenden, will have stricter rules for pilots landing their small planes there after a series of accidents in recent years, including a deadly one Sunday 19 December.
Two men flying in from Zagreb were killed and their plane destroyed at Bever, near the airport, during a difficult landing. Two planes, one from Warsaw and the other from Vienna, crashed in February 2010 after hitting snowbanks near the airstrip, with no injuries in one of the accidents but two deaths and one person injured in the other.
Swiss federal civil aviation (OFAC) authorities say pilots planning to land at Samedan, also known as Engadin Airport, will be given permission only if they have been on an initiation flight to familiarize them with the special conditions at the airport. Samedan sits at 1,707 metres altitude and is the highest airport in Europe. It is nestled among mountains with several high peaks, and landing there is more complicated than in an airport on the plains, OFAC officials note. The pre-flight training requirement goes into effect at the start of the new year.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 51-year-old man died shortly after being hit by a train at the station in Wipkingen, on the outskirts of Zurich. He had just stepped off the train and fell onto the tracks for unknown reasons, then was hit by the moving train. Emergency services arrived at the scene promptly but were unable to save him. Police are looking for witnesses to the accident.
A Vevey woman was luckier last week when she was hit by a train after falling at the Vevey station, surviving the accident but sustaining serious injuries. Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes carries a story 2 November saying that she was taken to the Chuv (university hospitals) where a leg was amputated, but no one contacted her husband, despite the woman having a cell phone and identity papers on her. Her husband told the newspaper that he only learned the next day, nearly 24 hours later, why his wife had not returned home.
