Watch the accelerator when in Switzerland: police caught more speeders in 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The only group of lawbreakers on Swiss roads whose numbers remained stable in 2010 were foreigners, figures released Tuesday 8 February indicate.
The federal highway department issued its annual statistics for driver’s licenses that were taken away, showing a 5.4 percent increase to nearly 79,000 drivers. Most, 63 percent, were lifted for three months, and the age group most affected was 20 to 29 year olds.
There was a sharp rise in the number of people who have lost their licenses for an indefinite period, 17.8 percent of all licenses revoked.
Swiss police cannot revoke a foreign driver’s license, but foreigners can have their right to drive in Switzerland taken away. The number of foreign drivers banned from Swiss roads in 2010 remained virtually the same, just over 18,000.
The three main reasons for taking away a license remain excessive speeding, drunkenness and distracted driving. The number of speeders who lost their licenses rose 1.2 percent to 35,427, while 18,371 people were caught with alcohol levels above 0.8 per 1,000 (legal limit is 0.5) and another 6,700 were given warnings for being over 0.5.
Nearly 10,000 people lost their licenses for distracted driving, a growing problem, with the increase abovve 12 percent last year. Most of these are people distracted by GPS navigation systems or cell phones, according to the highway department.
The two Northwest airline pilot who overflew Minneapolis airport 21 October have put part of the blame on air traffic controllers, who were not following standard procedures, court documents show. The documents, filed 24 November, have just been made public. The two are appealing to the Federal Aviation Administration, which removed their pilots’ licenses. They were out of contact with radio control for 77 minutes but the many stories that have circulated about what they were doing have not been confirmed or clarified.
