Parliament maintains current penalties for road rage offenders

Parliament has made a U-turn over a planned reform of the Swiss road traffic law. Keystone / Steffen Schmidt

Drivers convicted of excessive speeding on Swiss roads will continue to be punished with one year in prison and have their licences withdrawn for at least two years.

However, exceptions will be introduced for specific cases, according to a legal reform agreed by parliament on Wednesday.

Initially, both chambers approved a government proposal to abolish the one-year minimum prison sentence. giving courts more discretion to punish traffic offenders, notably handing down simple fines to speeding drivers.

However, faced with a public campaign by opponents of the reform, parliament backed down and decided to maintain in principle the current rules.

Reduced penalties are possible if a speeding driver has an honourable motive or has not been convicted of a serious road traffic offence in the last decade.

The reform notably provides for a reduction in penalties for ambulance drivers, firemen and police officers on duty.

Traffic education

Convicted speed merchants will not have to attend traffic education courses following the withdrawal of their driver’s licence.

But plans to force road rage offenders to drive a vehicle equipped with a data recorder were dropped and people caught drunk behind the wheel will not be forced to drive a car with an alcohol ignition interlock device.

As part of the legal amendment, rules will be introduced for automated driving and measures to promote environmentally friendly technologies.