Glitch sees over 9.000 drivers in Bern incorrectly fined for speeding

Officials in Bern have recently admitted that thousands of drivers have been incorrectly fined for speeding while travelling through the city. Over 9.600 incorrect charges were issued in the de-facto capital, thanks to a fault with a new speed camera system.

New speed cameras cause headache for Swiss police

According to a statement from Swiss police, the story starts in September when local authorities in Bern installed seven new speed reading devices. The tech in question uses so-called loop technology. This is where two induction loops are placed inside the road, which are able to measure the speed of cars by how long it takes them to travel between the two. If the system thinks a car is speeding, a separate camera is remotely activated and a picture of the vehicle is taken.

However, it wasn’t long after installing the new system that Bernese police started to notice an above-average number of fines coming in. After a thorough investigation, they concluded that the speeds being recorded at four of the locations were always too high - something authorities blamed on a software error.

Over 9.600 speeding fines issued in error in Bern

According to the police, 9.604 fines were issued incorrectly between September 12 and October 19 thanks to error - of these, 6.000 fines have already been paid. The emergency services have since apologised for the error, refunded the 6.000 fines already paid and cancelled the ones still outstanding. 

They said that they would be troubleshooting the issue with the system before putting it back into operation. Unfortunately for those hoping their own fine could be revoked, the police noted that the system at fault is new and not used in any other Swiss city or canton.