New Swiss road safety rules could also require headlights to be left on all day
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss parliament may move on tougher road safety measures before a new popular initiative has a chance to be put to the vote, with the upper house voting in favour of measures to clamp down on excessive speeders and to ban alcohol consumption for truck and bus drivers.
The lower house will now consider the changes approved by the upper house, a process that could take months.
One to four year prison terms for driving at “excessive speeds” or taking part in road racing would be one of the key changes, with the definition of excessive speed picking up the numbers that are part of the popular initiative registered in Bern earlier this week by RoadCross, an association for victims of road accidents: 70kph+ in 30kph zones, 100 in 50 zones and 140 in 80 zones, with no mention of autoroutes.
The upper house refused another proposal that has provoked heated debate in the past, rejecting a motion to oblige drivers over age 50 to have an eye examination in order to keep their driver’s licenses, saying this is the responsibility of the individual and would create an unwanted layer of bureaucracy.
It accepted rules that all cyclists up to age 14 would be required to wear bike helmets and that car lights should be left on all day.
A1 heading into Lausanne, from Morges, three lanes as a temporary measure, January 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The problem of congested roads in regions where some of Switzerland’s worst traffic jams occur inched closer to a solution Friday, when a commission of the Swiss upper house of Parliament agreed to modify regulations governing how certain national road funds are spent.
The commission had asked for a report on how cantons would help fund projects in congested road areas, such as the stretch of A1 autoroute between Versoix and Geneva, and the A1/A9 roads around Lausanne, which routinely have heavy traffic buildups. The problems are expected to worsen in the next 10 years, with the Lake Geneva region one of the fastest growing in Switzerland.
Doris Leuthard, Swiss president in 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Doris Leuthard becomes president of Switzerland in 2010. The 46-year-old PDC (Christian Democrat) member was elected comfortably (153 of 187 votes) by parliament for the top job, a one-year post that is rotated among the seven cabinet members, the Swiss Federal Council. She is the only member of the council not to have yet held the post. She was in line for the job, as vice-president in 2009, but nevertheless needed the approval of the Federal Assembly, parliament’s two houses. Leuthard becomes the youngest president since 1934.
Leuthard is the third woman to serve as president of Switzerland: Ruth Dreifuss was the first, in 1999 and Micheline Calmy-Rey the second, in 2007.
