UKC

Morally, probably yes. But leaving that aside, do any of you fine drivers have experience of not paying? Presumably I am likely to get forced to pay next time I go through customs?

This is a very long time ago, but I didnt pay and no after effects. 

The speeding ticket wanted payment by a bankers draft in Swiss francs. My bank wanted an additional £25 for this. I offered the Swiss my full credit card details including CVC multiple times. They kept refusing, I kept offering saying they were Switzerland for goodness sake, home of banking! 

Eventually I stopped offering. Nothing happened on subsequent visits. 

Swiss or uk plates? 

I know from 1st hand experience that the anpr cameras at customs work (long story in a rental not involving a speeding ticket)

i was in a hire car with french plates. i thought i'd gotten away with it but the letter came through this week.

In reply to Babika:

They appear to have learned the ways of internet payment now, so alas, no such loophole for me. I must admititis tempting to ignore them, but presumably if i do get forced to pay in future it will be significantly more than the 160euros they want currently. What a gamble

I would pay it.  While someone else posted they seemed to have got away with it, it's quite possible that with it unpaid you could be refused entry next time, or even banned from entering, or even worse arrested on entry.  It's not good to ignore debt to any Government, it almost certainly will come back to bite you later.

At least it's only money and no points.

My friend did this over 10 years ago and eventually they sent him a court summons threatening a week in jail, a large fine and a threat to ban him returning to the country. It was in German I think so he ignored it. His wife read it and they paid the fine as they did want to visit Switzerland again. (Uk car)

I will bet you the hire car company will almost inevetiably have a way of clawing it back from you if you do not pay.

Following a conversation over dinner this evening with my brother in law who lives in France (a stone's throw from the border) and generally climbs in Switzerland three or four times most weeks, is that they are very hot on their discipline and want to keep it that way.  They will get you.  If you ignore it, you'd better not try to enter the country again, there will be consequences.

I'm usually the first to scrap it out but I've had fines this last couple of years in Italy and Swiss and I reluctantly paid them due to stories of border issues if you decide to return. A few tears ago you could ignore them but the world has changed. 

The Swiss are terrible with their use of cameras. Mates over there tell me it's not unusual to keep getting tickets every few weeks as they move the little grey camera boxes around to trap motorists in areas especially where there are no signs telling you the speed limits. They don't give points for speeding tickets there to the locals, it's just a terrible way of making money.

Reading between the lines and maybe this is a good idea as drivers are actually getting punished for speeding.

If it’s just a basic fine…pay up, before they start asking about your income… 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-10960230

To a point this statement is true but when authorities are hiding mobile cameras behind rocks on stone walls where there are no clear indications of limits just to raise money then the fair play has gone. At least in the UK we have signs up telling you what the speed is and warnings of incoming cameras.

Odd thing is I've had 2 speeding tickets abroad and not a single speeding ticket in the UK after over 30 years of driving.

I think what you mean is you didn't see the speed limit signs or failed to recognise them as such, drive through any town or village on most of the Continent and there aren't signs, the limit is automatically applied passing the place name sign. And yes, mobile speed cameras are a thing.

Switzerland has  a sort-of points system, the speeding penalty is a matter for the canton but centrally the offences are tallied (the ADMAS system) and  roughly after six offences you get a warning and after nine they asses your suitability as a driver and order testing, education, fines or bans suitable for repeat offenders.

My ersonal experience there and that of 2 friends living there suggest otherwise.

I don't know if this is possible but do you dispute speeding ticket?

If you do and it is something possible and you think it is worth doing then have a try. If you are not disputing it, then you know what you should do.

Dave

Def no points system in Switzerland. ALthough you can get a ban if you are far enough over the limit. Good news is that you can choose when to take it (within 6 months). Just asked a lawyer in Basel. His suggestion to the OP was strongly along the lines of pay the fine.

No, they've done their bit by providing the police the details of the driver, and it's the driver that the offence is tied to, not the vehicle.  They'll do the same in the UK (as it's happened to me).  They also charged me for the privilege of passing my details on .

I'm assuming it is not a cloning scam like this one from Tripadvisor

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187070-i12-k12498195-o10-Speeding_...

That could work in my favour

Like I said it's a sort-of points system, six strikes and a warning, nine and out. Just it's one point per transgression.

If they find out you’re that poor, they’ll definitely not let you back in the country…….

Similar to others' experiences I got flashed by a camera in 2006ish. Ignored it with no further action. I haven't tried to re enter the country through a hard border though.

If I got one nowadays I would absolutely pay it and just take it on the chin.

Last time I sneaked in with the Girl Guides

Isn't that sort of thing illegal now? 🤨

What's the point of telling people where the cameras are?
They just slow down and speed up again once they've passed the camera.
Wouldn't it be better to actually catch people speeding when they're driving in their natural manner?
Could certainly do with some where I live as some evenings the roads in residential areas have become race tracks.

"Point" speed cameras are used to reduce speeds in specific blackspot locations.

Average speed cameras do that.

It's fairly hard to do camera enforcement in that sort of place - doing it by way of changing the road design (adding bumps, tables, chicanes etc) is the most effective way.  You can add nice features as you do, such as trees and planters, or do it by managing where parking is allowed.  Or just slap on a 20 limit and most people will slow down a fair bit even if they don't actually do 20.

The type of roads I'm referring to are the arterial roads linking various parts of the town and don't really have houses directly on them. 
Therefore, calming measures as you describe wouldn't work as they are used by big vehicles such as buses and lorries, etc.
The speed limit for these roads are 30mph as it makes sense due to the proximity of side roads leading to housing estates, etc.
20mph would be too slow and anyway, if people are driving at speeds probably approaching 60mph in a 30 zone, then I seriously doubt that they would care if the limit was 20mph.
Why not put temporary cameras in known hot spots and catch the lunatics doing double the speed limit?
 

On arterial roads of the type you describe (sorry, MK brain, I'm used to those roads being mostly NSL or at least 40 rather than 30) average speed cameras are ideal for what you describe.

Remember the point of speed cameras is to prevent people speeding, not as an income source.  The best speed cameras are the ones that bring in £0 and reduce accidents/the severity of accidents because people aren't speeding (but were before it was installed).  If people still speed but get caught, you've brought in a bit of money but haven't had a material effect on road safety, which in the end is the whole point of the exercise.

Sure, you could argue that random checks make people fear being caught so they won't speed as much, but in reality unless you're blind you can see* a camera van, and people learn where the fixed cameras are even if they aren't yellow (there are or were a load of camouflaged ones around the Hadfield area and they aren't hard to spot).

* My usual argument is that if you're one of those drivers who thinks they are attentive enough to speed, if you get caught that proves you weren't, as the speed camera you didn't see could have been a small child running out wearing dark colours instead.