The reactions of Blick readers to the article “Drivers are powerless in front of the police” were sometimes violent. “Banana Republic!”, “Police State!”, “That’s worse than in North Korea!” – These are just a few examples from the almost 300 comments that have been received on the article.
The background: car editor Andreas Engel (36) got a fine in Zurich for not wearing a seat belt. “Although that is not the truth,” as Engel assures us. But because he could not produce any evidence that could testify to this, Engel was asked to pay. 60 francs fine – not the world, but more than annoying if you believe Engels’ statements that he always wore his belt.
Many similar cases
The reactions show that this may not have been an isolated case.
“Exactly the same thing happened to me in Zurich,” write Ruedi Stricker from Heiden AR and Felix Küng from Zurich, independently of one another. Peter Meyer, also from Zurich, reports: “My girlfriend and I had just picked up a puppy. She sat with him on the back seat, buckled up of course, after all, we had been on the highway for over an hour beforehand. We were waved out on Langstrasse because my girlfriend was supposedly not wearing seat belts. How the police should have seen that through the darkened windows while driving past is a mystery to me. ”
Many of the communications concern telephoning behind the wheel. Like that of Luciano Lopalco from Niederhasli ZH. The police stopped him because he was said to have held his cell phone in his hand. His objection did not bring anything: 100 francs fine. “When I called the city judge’s office afterwards, they told me I should pay the fine as I had no chance against the policemen who were under oath.”
Buses doubled after consultation
Guido Marbach from St. Erhard LU reports particularly bad news. He was on the way with his delivery van from the Zurich Milchbuck tunnel towards Central. “I was stopped by the police on the banks of the Limmat, because two plainclothes colleagues wanted to see me talking on the phone while driving, but that was simply not true!” He defended himself against the 100-franc fine and showed the police officers the cell phone’s call list, the last call was over an hour ago.
After consulting the plainclothes officers, the policeman checking the car came back to the car. “He told me it was a hoax from my colleagues. I would not have made a phone call, I would have played around with the cell phone. Without batting an eyelid, he then pushed a 200-franc fine into my hand. This experience and the powerlessness really got to me afterwards. ”
Objection via legal protection
Markus Simmen from Fällanden ZH emphasizes that it is sometimes worth filing an objection to the city judge’s office (here on the article “Is it worth taking action against buses for drivers?”). According to his own statement, he would have had to pay 600 francs and possibly even hand in his ID after a single police officer accused him of fiddling with his cell phone in a standing column. “My objection to the city judge’s office was granted, and in the end I only had to pay 100 francs.”
In the case of Manfred Fois from Feuerthalen ZH, the case was even dropped by the public prosecutor in the end: Fois was reported because of alleged roll stops. “However, the video recordings from the police, which I was not allowed to view on site, showed that I had stopped on the line with the front right wheel. Since I knew this, I then raised an objection about my legal protection – and got it right. “
100 becomes 30,000 francs
Peter Stutzer from Hünenberg ZG reports that defending oneself against police buses can also be very different and extremely expensive. He also received a 100-franc fine for not wearing the seat belt, even though he was wearing it. “In contrast to Andreas Engel, I didn’t let the buses sit on me. I went with the police to the federal court. ” But it was of no use, on the contrary: “In fact, the police are protected by all judges at all levels. After a two-year process, my research approach cost me almost CHF 30,000. ”