LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A man with a gun held up two people in their 40s as they were closing their business Thursday evening 26 January at 18:30 on the rue de Margencel in Aigle. They gave him an undisclosed sum of money when they were threatened at gunpoint. He then fled and although police were alerted and immediately set up a manhunt, the man has not been found.
His description: he spoke French with an accent “from the East”; 170-175cm tall, thin, dressed in a white shirt with a hood and dark pants; tanned skin.
This is the fifth armed robbery in canton Vaud in one week, with the suspects on the loose in four cases. Police in Lausanne Thursday nabbed thieves who had broken into a Place ST Francois jewelry store at 12:30. A call from outside the store alerted police who arrived quickly and were able to force to the ground and handcuff “several persons” trying to flee. One client inside the shop was slightly injured by a knife.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A nine-year-old girl who was hit by a car in Aigle 13 September died Saturday, 11 days after the accident, at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, Vaud Police say. The 49-year-old man who was driving the car had had his license suspended in 1997 and police say he lied to them about who was driving the car at the time of the accident.
The girl was crossing the Route de Transit, the Aigle ring road, en route to Lausanne from Aigle, at 19:40, when she was hit. The driver and the owner of the car, a 36-year-old who was a passenger, told police the owner had been driving. The friend was aware the driver did not have a license but had loaned his car to the man in the past.
Police say the driver has previously been charged with driving without a license, on a number of occasions.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist was seriously injured but his life is not in danger following an accident late Sunday near Aigle. Friday 5 August a 38-year-old man lost his life in similar circumstances, also near Aigle.
The accident Sunday occurred at 17:30 on the Aigle to Mosses road, when the motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, attempted to pass a line of cars near the Vuargney gallery (partly covered section). He slammed into an oncoming car.
The earlier accident occurred on the cantonal road near Aigle and the motorcyclist was critically injured when he tried to pass a line of cars and hit a car as it pulled out to overtake others. He later died in hospital.
Update 5 August 13:00 LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist died shortly after midnight Friday morning at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne following an accident near Ollon, canton Vaud. The 38-year-old Valais man was passing a line of cars on the cantonal road between Aigle and Bex Thursday evening at 20:18 when a car began to turn left and he hit the car at full speed.
The driver of the car suffered hand and eye injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
The critically injured man was airlifted to the Chuv and Vaud police closed the road to investigate. Anyone who can provide information to clarify how the accident occurred is asked to contact police at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
The A9 autoroute heading towards Valais suddenly opens up after Villeneuve, wide and flat and straight and - oops, now there are radars from Aigle to Bex, so watch that gas pedal!
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Some motorists’ favourite A9 autoroute spot for speeding up has just become more treacherous, in terms of being caught, thanks to the installation of new radars.
Two boxes appeared Friday on the stretch of road between Aigle and Bex, in canton Vaud just before Valais, heading in the direction of Valais. The radars went into effect Monday morning 30 May. They don’t flash a driver for speeding at a fixed point but take the average speed over the stretch.
Speeders will be flashed, but no fines handed out on the basis of what the radar clocks, for the first month, to allow the system to be tested.
The ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) radars have proven effective in other countries, says the Federal Highway Department. They improve the flow of traffic and reduce the number of speeders, and in some countries, the number of fatalities and serious accidents have been reduced by half.
The 8-km radar intalled this week is a portable system, but by 2012 a fixed system will be in place.
Switzerland’s first ANPR radars were set up in the A2′s Arisdorf tunnel stretch of road near Basel in January 2011.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Vaud police and fire inspectors are investigating two weekend fires, one of which destroyed a lumberyard/carpentry shop and the other of which severely damaged an apartment building.
Aigle was the scene Saturday night of the second fire, which broke out in the cellar of a small apartment building at chemin du Cloître-de-Là 4, shortly before 18:45. The fire was put out by 20:15, but ladders were used to evacuate seven people who were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, then lodged elsewhere for the night.
The fire destroyed three caves, or storage areas, downstairs, blackened the apartment immediately above the fire and caused smoked damage to the other three other apartments, as well as partially burning a beam.
The fire in Romainmôtier sent the production manager to hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation after he attempted to hose down flames. He was alerted by a passing motorist who noticed smoke about 17:45 Friday 11 February. The fire quickly spread and 12 vehicles with 47 firefighters fought but failed to douse the flames, and the building was destroyed.
The Rhone valley in late October
Aigle, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – An early Indian Summer has brought record temperatures across Switzerland.
According to the Swiss national weather service, Meteo Swiss, temperatures around Lake Geneva peeked at almost 25 degrees on 2 and 3 October and reached 28 degrees in canton Vaud on 4 October.
Although more rain is expected in the next 48 hours the temperatures will remain warm and the sunny days will soon return to the Lake Geneva region, notes a written statement by Meteo Swiss.
Due to a strong foehn in the Alps, which reached 90 kph over the Rhone valley on 4 October, the temperature rose to 26.8 degrees in Aigle, canton Vaud.
That is the highest temperature ever reached during October. The last record was reached in 2001 with 26 degrees.
The foehn is a strong, dry wind descending from the lee of a mountain.
Foehn winds of up to 105 kph were registered at Altdorf which saw temperatures of 24 degrees.
Watch the gas pedal: they're watching your speed here!
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Vaud drivers will soon have the privilege of being the first to test a new federal highway department system for catching speeders on the A9 autoroute from Aigle to Bex.
An eight kilometre stretch of road will be equipped in September with a new radar system that measures a driver’s speed for that length of road to produce an average speed. Drivers who have gone over 120kph on average will be flashed at the end of the stretch.
Update 01:00 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An accident involving a person on the rails near Roche-Aigle in canton Vaud stopped most train traffic between Martigny and Sion late Saturday night, according to a 21:45 CFF notice. Several trains were cancelled: update – service has been resumed. Link to CFF alerts
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Vaud Monday released details of a crash in the early hours of Sunday on the A9 autoroute that killed one person and seriously injured another, as well as injuring the driver, whose condition was not made public.
Lausanne/Bex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 20-year-old who was knifed in the heart Tuesday 1 September by two youths he didn’t know as he walked through Parc Montbenon in Lausanne, died Saturday of his injuries, Vaud police say. The 15- and 17-year-olds who killed him were caught near the train station shortly after the crime and told a judge they pulled a knife on him because they didn’t like the way he looked at them.
One of them had been charged in the past with attempted murder and spent time in a juvenile detention centre in the Jura, but he escaped in January 2009.
A second violent crime was committed by juveniles in Bex Sunday night, near the Vaud/Valais cantonal line, that sent a police officer to hospital with head, throat and knee injuries.
All four youths are of foreign nationality, from three countries, and none of them have permanent residence status. The crimes come at a time when Switzerland has been debating what to do with foreigners who have not become well integrated into Swiss society and who commit serious crimes.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Vaud’s population continues to grow steadily, with a 2.8% increase in 2008, more than 16,300 people, for a total population of 684,922.
