Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: JOEL SAGET / AFP 17:20 p.m., November 27, 2023

A costly mistake. Swiss police have admitted that four poorly calibrated speed cameras wrongly flashed nearly 10,000 motorists in just over a month. The cause of this error is believed to be a programming error. Those affected by the PVs will be contacted by mail in the coming days to be reimbursed.

Swiss police on Monday had to admit an embarrassing mistake in a country that has made precision a selling point. Four poorly calibrated speed cameras wrongly flashed nearly 10,000 motorists in just over a month. Due to a programming error in the software, the four new speed cameras contained so many violations that it tipped off the sleuths of the Bern Cantonal Police.

This is believed to be caused by a configuration error

"A total of 9,604 erroneous measurements were recorded between September 12, 2023 and October 19, 2023. All those concerned will receive a letter in the coming days and about 6,000 fines will be reimbursed," the police said in a statement, but did not specify the amounts unduly earned.

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Officers found an above-average number of speed limit violations at the four locations of the offending devices and "more and more affected people have come forward." The authorities therefore once again called on the Federal Institute of Metrology, which had validated the first configuration, to carry out checks. They revealed that the measured speed was too high. "These four devices are the only ones used in Switzerland with this... configuration and therefore the only ones affected by this error," the police said.