Traffic flow after renovations at Gare Cornavin, Geneva train station, 2013
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The renovations at Gare Cornavin, the Geneva train station, move into a new phase Monday, with the opening of the completed west wing. The east wing renovations will be started.
Access to tracks 2 and 3 have been closed from Montbrillant for much of the west wing work.
Travellers will find themselves rerouted again next week, to access some of the tracks.
The CHF113 million modernization project will be completed in 2013.
Nearly there! Architect's pre-renovations rendering of west entry after completion
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.
Increase due almost entirely to pedestrians outside crosswalks
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of deaths on roads in Switzerland fell by 4 percent in 2010 but the number of pedestrian deaths was up by 27 percent, new figures from the Swiss Safety Council (bfu/bpa) show. There was little change in the number of people killed while using a crosswalk, but pedestrians killed elsewhere rose from 39 to 56.
Overall number of accidents continues to fall
Alcohol and speed factors remain high
Photo, Mr Kio on flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/igievil/
A total of 361 people died on Swiss roads in 2010. Speed is estimated to have played a role in about one-third of fatal accidents and alcohol in about one-fifth.
Another 4,508 people were seriously injured in road accidents in Switzerland in 2010. Speed may have been a factor in about one-quarter of these and alcohol in about one in seven accidents.
The number of accidents in 2010 was more than 500 lower than in 2005, with the number falling every year. The safety council attributes the decline to preventive efforts and more policing, but it says there are still far too many deaths and injuries.
Speed, crossing outside crosswalks a deadly combination
Most pedestrians are killed during busy traffic periods such as rush hour, the new annual safety council report indicates.
“Most pedestrian accidents occur while people are crossing the road, in towns, and during rush hour. A systematic reduction in speed would help reduce the number of accidents and reduce the seriousness of injuries caused by them.” Bfu/bpa notes that the percentage of deaths when cars are going 30kph is 10 percent, but this climbs to 70 percent when cars are going 50kph.
Turn on your lights and fill the windscreen cleaner: winter is here!
One in four Swiss road deaths occurs at pedestrian crossings: make sure your lights are set correctly and windscreen cleaner is full with dark, wet days here (photo: TCS)
Lugano and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One in four road deaths in Switzerland occurs at a pedestrian crosswalk, a problem the country shares with the rest of Europe. TCS (Touring Club Suissse) in 2008 embarked on a programme with other automobile clubs in Europe to test pedestrian crossings, and the worst one this year turned up in Lugano. The intersection at the Via San Gottardo and the Via Genzana was given a mark of “very inadequate”, reports news agency ats. Its low marks were due to no traffic lights, very poor light during the day and at night and the difficulty seeing pedestrians that drivers have when they turn right have.
TCS, as part of a national Day of Light 25 November, published a set of reminders for drivers that include these points:
- 90 percent of the information we receive as drivers is visual
- fatigue sharply reduces your ability to process visual information quickly
- night driving cuts visibility by 5-10 percent and rain reduces it even further
- visual acuity is reduced as we get older.
Winter weather brings a reminder to refill your car’s windscreen cleaner liquid, making sure it’s the anti-freeze kind for winter.
Ed. note: the Day of Light organizers have a safety quiz contest with only four easy questions, which require only basic French, and the prizes are handy items like a mountain bike, bicycle helmets, Swiss thermos and safety vests. It runs until 11 February 2010.
Fully, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 21-year-old driver injured two other young people, ages 17 and 20, hitting them when they were using a crosswalk after leaving a bus in the centre of Fully. The two were taken to the hospital in Sion, say police.
School of Saint-Jean, Geneva
Update 11:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The end of the year “Boom” or school festival in Geneva’s St Jean district ended on a tragic note Thursday night 25 June when two children were struck by a car on Rue de St Jean in front of the elementary school.
The festive mood at the school suddenly turned into a parent’s nightmare when a former student and her 3-year-old brother were struck by a vehicle around 22:00. The Geneva Police and paramedics arrived on the scene shortly after and converted picnic tables set up for the party into a makeshift triage center for the two injured children, who were later taken to the hospital. Their lives are not in danger but the hospital is not releasing further information.
