A BMW driver is found guilty of speeding on the motorway and must pay a fine of 100,000 euros

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Anyone who attracts attention in traffic in Switzerland is better off being poor, as a lawyer with a fundamental trust in sports brakes has now learned.

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What did he do to deserve such a punishment? According to a court ruling, a lawyer and driver of a BMW 540d must pay around 100,000 euros for tailgating on the highway. In March 2023, the 58-year-old came very close to the car in front of him in the overtaking lane.

In this case, driving close means that there were sometimes only eight meters between the two vehicles, as the police determined via camera – and all of this at 110 to 120 kilometers per hour.

He therefore drastically disregarded the prescribed safety distance and, according to the public prosecutor, there was a high abstract risk of an accident. The Aargauer Zeitung reports on this.

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The punishment must hurt

Why is the fine so high? The approach in Switzerland is that the penalty in such cases must be proportionate to income. And since the lawyer has an annual income of 1.8 million euros according to data available to the district court, daily rates of between 30 euros and around 3,000 euros were possible. In the end, 50 times 2,000 euros were the result, for a total of 100,000 euros.

Does the lawyer still have an option? The millionaire and avowed BMW fan can still appeal the verdict before the Federal Court. The sentence currently hanging over him already came from the second instance, the higher court responsible for the region.

This confirmed the district court’s penalty order and only reduced the “connection fine” imposed in addition to the actual penalty from around 15,000 to 10,000 euros. However, this also resulted in court costs equivalent to around 5,000 euros.

With what arguments did the BMW driver defend himself against such a burden of proof? He justifies his opposition to the verdict as follows:

  • He said the police did not inform him of his rights. However, a report he signed contradicts this.
  • The distance analysis was incorrect because it was based on the lines on the road.
  • He did not have to worry about the vehicle braking and had also installed sports and racing brakes.

    • According to the Aargauer Zeitung, the higher court was not very impressed by all this.

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