Why a driver faces a huge $110,000 in fines for speeding on a Swiss street

Independent

2 days ago

A wealthy motorist in Switzerland faces a potential fine up to 90,000 Swiss francs ($110,000) after being caught driving 27 kilometres per hour (17 mph) over the speed limit in Lausanne.
The substantial penalty reflects Switzerland's unique system of wealth-based fines, which tailors penalties to an individual's income and financial standing.
The driver, a repeat offender and one of Switzerland's richest people, was caught on a city street, with fines in cantons like Vaud determined by income, fortune, or overall financial situation. This approach is not unique to Switzerland; Germany, France, Austria, and Nordic countries also issue wealth-based punishments.
This isn't even a record for Switzerland. In 2010, a millionaire Ferrari driver received a $290,000 ticket for speeding in St. Gallen. These significant penalties for affluent offenders were enabled by a penal law overhaul, approved by Swiss voters three years prior, allowing judges to base fines on personal income and wealth for misdemeanours.
Under today's rules, an indigent person might spend a night in jail instead of a fine, while the wealthiest in the rich Alpine country could be on the hook for tens of thousands.
A court in the Swiss canton of Vaud recently ruled that the tycoon must pay 10,000 Swiss francs ($12,300) up front and could be forced to pay the rest — 80,000 more — if he's caught for a similar roadway infraction over the next three years.
Switzerland's '24 Heures' newspaper first reported the case and said the man, who was not identified, was a French citizen listed by Swiss economic weekly Bilan among the 300 richest people in Switzerland — with a fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The daily reported that an automated police radar photographed the offender driving at 77 kilometers per hour (48 mph) in a 50 kph (31 mph) zone on a Lausanne street. A quick-calculating prosecutor tallied the maximum fine the driver faced under the law, the report said.
Vincent Derouand, a spokesperson for the Vaud public prosecutors office, said the defendant didn't contest the decision, which was handed down in June for the infraction nearly a year ago — in August 2024.
The Vaud criminal code sets a maximum financial penalty based on the "personal and economic situation of the offender at the time of the ruling' — notably taking into account issues like income, fortune, lifestyle and family financial needs.
The newspaper reported that he had already been caught for a similar speeding infraction eight years ago, and also paid 10,000 Swiss francs in penalty and faced another 60,000 if another infraction had taken place within the following two years.
In Switzerland, penalties for speeding can even catch up with the cops: One officer was fined for racing at nearly twice the speed limit through Geneva streets back in 2016 while chasing thieves who had blown up a bank teller machine.