Swiss government rejects plan to penalise slow drivers

Earlier this year, a Swiss national councillor submitted a plan to penalise people who drive too slowly on Swiss roads. Now, however, the Federal Council has rejected the motion, describing it as unnecessary and difficult to implement. 

Plan tabled to punish people who drive too slowly in Switzerland

Have you ever been stuck behind someone doing 50 on the motorway and felt your blood pressure rise? Under National Councillor Walter Gartmann’s plan, “snail pace drivers” would have faced consequences if they continued to drive well under the speed limit. 

Calling for traffic to “no longer be disrupted or hindered by motorists moving at a snail’s pace”, Gartmann tabled plans that would have seen drivers going too slowly warned by radio or via CarPlay on their mobile phones to increase their speed. If they failed to do so, they could be fined. He said the measures would improve road safety, reduce dangerous overtaking, and alleviate traffic jams, making for an overall more relaxing driving experience. 

Federal Council says motion would be difficult to implement

However, the Federal Council was not taken with the idea, and this week issued an unfavourable response to the proposal, TdG reports. “It is not mandatory to drive at the general or signalled maximum speed,” the response stated, adding that it would be “difficult, from a technical and legal point of view, to quickly inform road users who are driving too slowly or too quickly via their radio or smartphone.” 

Although the motion never had much chance of success, it seems to have struck a chord with many members of the Swiss public. A non-representative survey conducted by TdG found that more than 80 percent of readers had been “annoyed by a driver who was driving too slowly”.