Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Swiss Police Have Nothing to Do

Lately, Toddler M is very excited whenever she sees a Swiss police car. “Polizei Auto!” she’ll scream with delight.

The Frau wishes she could share Toddler M’s enthusiasm when it comes to the Swiss police.

But this is difficult to do because a couple of weeks ago the Swiss police pulled The Frau over. On her bike. The Frau’s crime? Biking in a pedestrian zone on a rainy Sunday morning with no pedestrian in sight.

The ultimate Schadenfreude. Watching
another biker get pulled over.
The only thing else to be found on the pedestrian-only street? The Swiss police car. And The Frau wants to know: Which is more dangerous? Driving a car down a pedestrian street or riding a bike?

Actually, here’s what’s worse: On August 1, the entire population, including the Swiss police, seemed to think it was just fine to set off fireworks in public squares and parking lots.  The message from the Swiss police seems to be: bikers in pedestrian zones are dangerous, but fireworks in the same places aren’t.

What do you think?

The Frau writes about Swiss life in her new book, Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I’d Known. You might like it.



11 comments:

geoch1 said...

I guess the slaloming by bicycle among all the 1st August's rockets, bombs, UFOs, missiles should have been quite challenging.

The bicycle is sometimes a dangerous and mysterious mean of transportation. In Switzerland you carry it by hand when crossing a street, you carry it by hand when taking the train...
maybe you should also have carried it by hand while passing through the pedestrian area!

(Chantal, your nice book inspired me to start my - very unprofessional! - blog. Also from my side, it's...all about Switzerland)

Hattie said...

Well, at least they aren't geared up for military action like U.S. cops.

Martin said...

Yeah, at least they do not shoot black people, don't look like the leathal troops of a fascist, utterly frightened government.

Instead perhaps, they eat a Mohrenkopf from time to time ... and enjoy it, since nobody gets hurt or discriminated by that! 8-)

Anis said...

Lately I've discovered something interesting: the police has to fulfill a budgetary target in fines every year. This means that they will not take in consideration logical arguments !

Anonymous said...

Hi!

A friend of mine was stopped by the police as a pedestrian in front of Hardbrucke station. She had crossed the street in a segment where there were no crossing stripes. The fine was 30 francs I think.... So be careful!

Anonymous said...

That's it! Switzerland, like the US, has rules to be respected.
Some areas are for peds, some are for driving(what ever u drive.

If you mind that swiss rules are stupid,please think about the US rules.Some are as stupid(sometimes more) as the US ... Isn'it ?

The One said...

On the flip side, a friend cycling at night stopped by the police only to be handed a free pair of ankle light reflectors .. that's a nice gesture. Hey .. I just realised, guessed we bumped into each other once along THE river once.

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