GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva police are calling it PréDiRe Cyclistes, a week-long focus on bicycle safety and road etiquette from 20 to 24 June, with the police officers involved using bikes themselves.
Cyclists who don’t respect the rules of the road can expect to be stopped and given a lesson plus a cycling guide published by the Swiss safety council. Police will be checking bicycles randomly for the state of the bicycle, use of helmets and bike licenses that show you have third party insurance coverage.
The campaign is mainly aimed at cyclists in the city, but motorcyclists are included, say police, who want to improve cyclist behaviour, especially respect for red lights and giving priority to pedestrians.
Electric bikes are getting more sophisticated (Photo, wikipedia)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is proposing to scrap some of the rules that make importing a car into the country from the European Union relatively expensive. A series of proposed safety and road changes, most of which focus on electric bikes, also covers regulations for importing cars.
Under new rules, cars with EU certificates would not need separate Swiss certification in many cases, although people importing cars will still need to have a garage verify that the car conforms to the certificate, a far less expensive process, and faster. The garage will also be charged with verifying the technical information needed to register the car for Swiss tax purposes.
The federal highway department says 20 May that it is setting out for public consultation until 15 August its proposed changes to road and safety regulations. New rules could go into effect in 2012. Bern’s proposed changes (Fr)
The changes would also add new requirements for chidren’s fixed seats and dusk lights on vehicles being registered for the first time, in line with EU standards.
New rules for electric bikes also open for public consultation
The biggest changes are for electric bikes, to take into consideration major technical improvements.
Electric bikes will fall into three categories under the proposed changed rules:
- Assisted pedaling up to 25kph: will in future be allowed to also have assisted acceleration and deceleration on demand; helmets will continue to be recommended but not required and a bicycle tax license will continue to be adequate. Unassisted speed limited to 6kph and motor maximum of 250 watts.
- Assisted pedaling with maximum speed of 45kph (maximum of 20kph without pedaling: considered the equivalent of electric scooters and will be labeled as such, with numbered cantonal license plates and helmets required; motor maximum 500 watts.
- Assisted pedalint with maximum speed of 45kph (maximum, 30kph without pedaling). Considered equivalent to electric scooters, with numbered cantonal license plates and helmets required; motor maximum 1000 watts, combustion engine no bigger than 50 cm3.
The bfu's campaign helped to increase the number of helmet-wearers on Swiss slopes (photo ©2011 Tara S. Kerpelman)
The Swiss snow sports safety campaign, “1,000 accidents a day – protect yourself with a helmet,” has received good marks: an evaluation by the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) says the 2007-2010 marketing campaign was an overall success.
The percentage of people wearing helmets while skiing or snowboarding went up from 52 to 76 percent between 2007 and 2010, over the course of the campaign.
The bfu partnered with the Swiss Insurance Association (SVV) and Rega (Swiss air rescue) for the campaign. It argued that the main reasons skiers and snowboarders did not wear helmets were they were not conscious of the dangers involved, they thought they were not vulnerable to the dangers, or they found that helmets were too uncomfortable to wear.
The report says the campaign reduced the number of people who fit into these categories.
The increase was smaller in French-speaking Switzerland, where it went up more than 16 percentage points, than in German-speaking areas, where the increase was greater than 26 percent, the report says.
Change in the percentage of people wearing helmets (source: bfu.ch)
There was more familiarity with the bfu’s campaign over time: only 47 percent of those surveyed in 2008 had heard of the campaign but this rose to 69 percent by 2010, with a slightly more significant increase in the 18 to 25 age group, 69 percent in 2010, up from 46 percent in 2008.
The campaign was probably not the only or even main reason for the increase in helmet-wearers, the report says, but it notes that the bfu’s efforts supported and reinforced the other reasons.
These probably include more celebrities and sports stars seen with helmets and, over time a generation, following the example of those who are older who have begun to wear helmets.
Brought to you earlier than expected! Lifts opening, safety, weather, cars, new radio
La Loge, Jura, November 2010 (photo, Pauline, JC Cusin)
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Our first real winter sports bulletin at GenevaLunch was scheduled for Friday 3 December, but the skies opened, the snow fell, the lift operators cheered, and we’ve decided to offer this to you earlier than planned. Visit us regularly on Fridays from now until April for our weekly weather and news linked to the Alpine world and winter sports.
Ski resorts open
A good starting place for information about Swiss ski resorts, if you’re unfamiliar with them, is the Swiss Tourism Office web site, which has a wealth of information. Note that historically their information about snow conditions is not up to date for all resorts, but maybe 2010-11 will see a change.
Jura
A number of ski resorts have already opened but be sure to check before you head there. The Jura, which has had snow steadily for over a week, already has a good base.
La Loge, Jura, November 2010 (photo, Pauline, JC Cusin)
The Monts Jura area issued this notice before Tuesday night’s fresh 20-plus cm of fresh snow: “Because of the recent snowfalls, the Monts Jura website is announcing the early opening of some of its installations. This weekend, there will be installations operating with reduced personnel at the Col de la Faucille and Crozet/Lélex and pistes open at La Vattay. Depending on snow conditions, these are the ones that will be running:
La Faucille: Télécombi and the Myrtilles skilift
Lélex: Catheline télécabine, the Loges six-place high-speed chairlift (if there is adequate snow at the summit), the Monthoisey skilift, Crozet Fierney télécabine, Télécorde, the Bergers chairlift
Vattay: Verte de la Vattay, Bleue de la Puthod, Petite Grand and Grande Grand, Noire de Divonne and Verte du Plateau.
Valais, Vaud
Helmets on all
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - “Safety and respect on the slopes” is the Swiss safety campaign slogan for the 2009-2010 winter. It is especially directed at the French-speaking parts of Switzerland in the third and final year of a major campaign to reduce winter sports accidents. The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention, known by its French initials BPA, says that only 46 percent of skiers and snowboarders wear helmets in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, against 72 percent in the Swiss-German part.
BPA started counting in 2003, and at that time only 16 percent of skiers and snowboarders in Switzerland wore head protection.
Suva is Switzerland’s largest insurer against accidents, the source of most statistics on accidents in the country, including winter sports ones. Their web site offers a wealth of advice on preventing accidents but they also have a shop where you can buy a CD on preventing avalanches, based on the premise that people will ski off-piste despite danger, so they might as well be informed. And you can buy a range of safety items, from avalanche detectors to helmets (some just in German).
Photo: Celestial Pilgrim from Lausanne on flickr
Blue skies and brrrrr, cold air throughout the Alpine and Jura region, and it’s expected to continue until at least New Year’s Day. Since there are no weather updates, we’re bringing you an update on the activities of Rega, the helicopter accident airlift service.
Tomorrow: new data from the national weather service and some new deals this year for buying ski lift tickets online.
Rega is busy saving riders, skiers, sledders, hikers
In case of emergency:
Dial 1414 for help (no area code) if you have a Swiss SIM card for your mobile phone.
Dial +41 333 333 333 for help if you are calling from abroad or don’t have a Swiss SIM card.
Fine weather, holidays, sports: for most of us this adds up to winter fun in the snow in Switzerland, but for Rega’s emergency airlift service, it means an increase in work. During three days around Christmas the non-profit group made more than 200 airlifts, of which more than half involved winter sports accidents.
