It was the subject of much discussion in the past year of the pandemic: the mouth and nose mask. And that has now been fatal for a 50-year-old Blick reader. More precisely: their placement.
Reader reporter Valerie H. * (50) was driving her car in the evening rush hour in downtown Zurich on May 8th. At the Central, a policeman pulled them out of circulation. The reason: she had hung her mask on the rearview mirror. This is forbidden, said the Zurich city police officer.
Aroma trees and pennants on the rearview mirror allowed?
“I assumed that the matter was a warning,” says H. But she was wrong. According to the police officer, there is a “zero tolerance” rule for such violations – because the restricted view is considered to be a “danger to third parties”. The Zurich woman now has to reckon with a hefty fine.
H. sees their mistake. However, she does not like the actions of the authorities: The police officer is said to have told her that the officers had “been specially trained on the masks”. However, Huber believes that this has not caught on with the population. For example, she did not even know that it was forbidden: “The police should distribute more information and not use the pandemic to distribute punishments.”
Huber also points out that numerous vehicles have objects hanging on their rear-view mirrors – from “scent trees” to pennants from football clubs to crucifixes: “Will they be fined too?”
Law is actually clear
Police spokesman Marc Surber makes it clear: “The law stipulates that the field of vision must not be restricted, and therefore not marginal.” If there are minor restrictions in the field of vision, however, one usually refrains from displaying it, Surber continues. “But each case has to be assessed individually,” he emphasizes.
The media spokesman denied that vehicles were specifically checked for misplaced masks: “It was a routine check.” Instead, he emphasizes: “During the inspection, the employee mentioned that the Zurich City Police had pointed out the problem with the masks on the rear-view mirror in the past.”
The police drew attention to the matter with a post on social media last autumn:
Blick also reported on the applicable regulations.
The amount of the fine depends on the case
The city judge’s office in Zurich will decide how high the bus will be if the windshield is disregarded. Media spokesman Alessandro Zollinger told Blick: “There is no uniform fine for this offense – but it is at least 100 francs.” The exact circumstances are examined and evaluated in each individual case, according to Zollinger. “The height of the buses is measured by how much the view was really restricted.”