Car driver is fine but his license was removed - Image Basel cantonal police
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Basel were busy this weekend with two speeders and an alcohol related accident in the Basel’s city centre, ending in three license suspensions.
Canton police nabbed a 56-year-old driver for going 170 kph in an 80 zone on the Basel-Campagne cantonal road. His license was immediately confiscated.
Earlier the same day, another driver, 25, was picked up for driving 101 kph in a 50 zone in Aesch and his license also removed.
Meanwhile a man in Basel was detained for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and crashing into a city tram before driving his car into a ditch in a construction zone where was rescued from. No one was seriously injured in the accident which occurred in the intersection of Bändelgasse and Gärtnerstrasse. His license was also immediately confiscated.
The police have been stepping up radar checks to reduce the number of serious accidents.
Mercedez Benz impounded - Photo Fribourg cantonal police
Fribourg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – A Swedish driver was arrested and his Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG impounded after pushing the 570-horsepower engine to 290 kilometers per hour on a Swiss highway.
The 37-year-old Swede traveling on A12 from Bern to Lausanne, was spotted by Vaud cantonal police at around 13:00, arrested and turned over to the police in the western canton of Fribourg on Friday 6 August.
The driver, whose license was seized, could face a CHF1 million fine.
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, is a luxury grand touring car and reaches a top speed of 317 km/hr.
The car is well known among video-game fans for being featured in a new PlaySyation 3 racing game.
Vehicle sales began only recently in Europe. Its base sticker price is CHF245,000.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Road Office (Fedro) is proposing a series of steps to cut down the number of accidents each year. More than 20,000 accidents on Swiss roads cause almost 400 deaths every year and many more serious injuries.
Government’s safer roads proposals consultation ends in March
The package of proposals, called Via Sicura , is winding its way through the mandatory Swiss political consultation process. The 60-odd proposals include improving road infrastructure, changing laws and toughening procedures. Among measures being considered:
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in Vaud are using the example of a street artist in Mont-Pelerin to remind motorists that it’s illegal to warn other drivers about radars in the vicinity. A large “radar” and triangle with an exclamation point on the road in Mont-Pelerin is clearly illegal, they say – as is honking your horn or flashing your lights to alert other drivers about radars.
Related, 20 Minutes, Fre
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It’s been years since the region has had a winter with such wonderful snow in the French and Swiss Alps and in the Jura.
Temperatures should be reasonable this weekend and mostly sunny skies are on order for the start of the weekend.
Carneval with its crazy costumes, confetti in the streets and marching brass bands is getting underway in many resort areas, particularly in the Catholic cantons.
At 1,000 metres above Sierre, 30cm of snow that have fallen since last weekend remains on the ground, fresh and still powdery. In the Jura, the snow base is deeper than it’s been in years.
Head for the great outdoors this weekend!
Weather forecast
From Meteoswiss: temperatures between 3 and 5C until Tuesday, with partly sunny skies Friday and Saturday, clouding over near Lake Geneva Sunday but remaining mostly sunny in the mountains on Sunday. North wind could become gusty in high areas starting Sunday.
Carving skis and speed
Switzerland’s largest accident insurer, Suva, a non-profit company, continues to visit resorts with a radar for skiers and videos that show the distance they need to stop, to help them understand the implications of their actual speeds – which in many cases turn out to be nearly fast as twice as the skiers’ estimates. This weekend, 20-21 February, they are at Adelboden.
Suva says that carving skis are partly to blame for the continuing increase in skiing accidents, which cost CHF209 million in 2006. Skiers find them so easy to use they are simply unaware of the speed at which they are moving.
Snowboarding accidents cost CHF33m in 2006. Suva’s site has a video that helps you draw your personal winter sports accident risk profile, with suggestions for how to lower your risk.
New Alpine blogger
James Cove, formerly of the BBC, is taking a year out to teach skiing in Verbier, and in the process he’s set up a web site, PlanetSki, with a blog, so if you’re looking for news from a site that’s really on-site (very few ski web sites are), we suggest you visit James.
Jura report
Small girl, large Jura skiscape
Also on site, Shirley Curran, with her weekly report for GenevaLunch: This week the unpacked snow on our upper slopes reached depths of over two metres. What more is there to say? We have frequent falls and the weather is likely to remain cold until Wednesday at least. All our lifts are running, as it is the French holiday period so queues are minimal.
My top tip is again the Refuge de la Loge, where, if you can shift the resident puss from the soft armchairs by the fire, you can enjoy the best hot wine on the mountain, or home baked cake or the plat du jour. Today it was a cheese and potato dish.
