I wish I had read this just one week ago as I just got un "Avis de contravention" for driving at 61 kmph, (when the limit is 50kmph) on the Autoroute A401 France vers Suisse a St. Julien en Genevois. I was trying to work out where this could have been, and Google maps indicates it is near to Bardonnex. I therefore can confirm that there is indeed a camera in place and it seems to function very well. ...and they are making good money...90 euros if I pay in 15 days, otherwise 375 euros. Vive la France!

if you ride the good speed it's not really a problem... speed limits are for your and others security... try to not forget that...

also don't forget, that the radars are dual-purpose, and that the other purpose is to make money.

I agree. If you drive more than the speed limit you will pay money. You dont want to pay? No problem. Dont drive over the speed limit. Is that so difficult?

I'm not convinced that radars earn enough money to pay for the costs to soceity of trafic accidents...

It's a fact that speeding contributes to only about 3 % of accidents( in the UK anyway), and far more accidents are caused by people driving too fast for the conditions, but not speeding. If the authorities were concerned solely about road safety they would position speed cameras near known accident blackspots and reduce the speed limit in those areas. So if you are telling me that putting a small camera on a dead straight bit of road just after you have come off a motorway is for purposes of road safety and not for revenue collection, I'd very much like to have some of what you have been smoking :-)

check this out....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1238885/Englands-lucrative-speed-camera-revealed--raking-2-3million-years.html

Me, neither, but I didn't say that. Radars do bring in a non-trival amount of money. One country estimates a radar earns its installation costs back in two weeks and is "generating" income after that. Anyway, most accidents happen in the city, where lack of concentration, rather than speed is the culprit.

(1) Radars reduce speeding, (2) Navigation systems with radar databases further reduce speeding*, (3a) Radars are often installed both in dangerous zones (sensible) and, (3b) in zones with a high probability of trapping low-speed, but expensive speed infractions (questionable).

*This is acknowledged by traffic police the world over and radar positions are advertised by police on the internet for this reason. The reason Swiss police/gov has banned in-car radar databases till now is evidently not based in concerns for safety, but more likely for budget.

It shall be said now, that I don't speed :)

Maria> You are not a driver?

The fact is that a lot of driving people are just assholes, driving too fast and thinking they can react as a pilot, what is of course an illusion... I really think that most are not prepared and also that a lot think they are safe in a car, what is also an illusion...

For my part, the more you have radars, the more those assholes will stay calm when driving, and I respect Geneva authorities for that.

.. you can add bicyclists listening to iPods, failing/refusing to stop for red, not checking for other traffic.. to that.

yes also... :-)

Given the huge size and very visible position of most Swiss radars, you cannot claim that they're made to rake in money. If that were a goal, they would have been much more discrete!

I generally also find that most radars are sensibly placed.

Note that I drive everywhere and all the time, so I am also being targeted by radars myself, and have had to pay several fines. However, I think that we drivers as a group have to learn some discipline, many people, once they are behind the wheel, stop thinking about being courteuos and considerate for others. (Myself included.)

The original poster said:

"It is one of the new small radars and is not easy to see in the central reservation."

Just to note:

- the radar is on the French side, not the Swiss side ...so it does not look like a Cow or a piece of Cheese....more like a fine tranche of foie gras

- as pointed out by some, the radar is not in an accident black spot, but on a straight stretch approaching the border, as you have exited the autoroute where the limit is 110.

- I do not condone unsafe driving, having been the victim of one such driver.

- for those of you who feel indignant and morally superior that someone should complain about being 'caught' on camera while speeding ...check your own speed in a section like this (or think next time you talk on your mobile while driving), where you are slowing down to half the speed limit of a few hundred metres before, and shortly after the limit drops to 50, there is a camera. e.g. coming through the Ferney tunnel to France where many people remain at 50-60 when the limit is 30 ... a camera there would certainly catch many people who feel that they are perfect drivers and never speed.

I didn't want to encourage anyone to speed on the rest of the road system, just point out this radar and remind people that the limit 50kph then 30kph is quite a change from the 110/130kph on the autoroute network.

It would be better if they could stop the wacky lane changing on both sides of customs

The other problem with slowing suddenly from 50 to 30 is that your average Swiss driver, who would normally be only about 1m from the back of your car, would crash straight into the back of you. Is tailgating a national sport here? Especially when it's dark and wet....      :-)

i think it's more portuguese or french than swiss in other cities people keep distance, and as u must know gva is far to be representative of Switzerland... :-)

When I moved to Geneva years ago, the first thing my US colleagues told me to watch out for was "tailgating."  This can get you in big trouble in some places in the States.  I was just on the road with a friend today and he was reducing his speed as he was approaching radars. By reflex, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that a car was almost on my friend's bumper.

I'm originally from Detroit. You do that there and you'd end up with some holes in your car. Not saying that is civilized but tailgaiting is a HUGE no-no.  You learn that when you first get your driving license at 16 years-old....

yeah Detroit style... :-) i will buy a 357 mag for tailgaiting fools... :-)

Hahaha...sorta... Two years ago, I visited my older brother in Detroit. We were driving around his neighborhood -- not a particularly bad one -- and I saw a license plate  CCW. 

"What's that mean?" I asked my brother.

"Well," he said, "that stands for Carrying a Concealed Weapon."

"Whaaaaaat?" I exclaimed,

My brother shrugged and told me I had been living in Switzerland for too long and welcome back to "real world America." He also said, "[t]his guy is just alerting people to the fact that he's not an easy target..." 

No wonder some citizens of Detroit want a statue of Robocop downtown! 

I do not advocate summary executions for tailgaiting, but have seen waaaaay too much of it here.

To add my tuppence here.. in the UK the police are obliged to paint fixed speed cameras bright dayglow yellow...  as a detterant and speed reducing item, but also "if" you miss it and get flashed, theny youre the cock for not seeing a huge dayglow post with a camera on it and no excuses are considered if you object to the speeding fine...

In Switzerland however only SOME /FEW fixed speed cameras are painted like cheese or a cow... most are in a very neutral grey, which if you dont know are there are quite easy to miss if youre travelling beyond the limit.

In addition to this the Swiss police use HIDDEN cameras ALOT.... so to my fellow drivers..Beware of green dustbins placed on the side of the road on a NON dustbin collection day, beware of small grey boxes placed near the emergency lane of motorway run offs, beware of grey mercedes people carrier type vans with the windows blacked out... they all more than likely contain a speed trap... not to mention unmarked cars and marked traffic cop cars parked up on the mway hard shoulder... ITS VERY COMMON...

Switzerland is obsessed by speed traps... and with the potentially new "average speed" measuring devices placed on the Mway as you exit Valais and enter Vaud....

Speeding fines for excesses beyond a certain limit on the motorway and highway are also MEANS TESTED...ie they take a proportion of your GROSS salary, and not a fixed fine... (fixed fines only apply up to 140kmph on mway)...

So I would say the Swiss are looking at recieving revenue from infringing drivers , which as a driver irks me, but I cant complain if I break the law...its my own damn fault...

The Germans have a funny saying, "the speed limit in Switzerland is set low, in order to make a small country seem bigger to German drivers who drive across it".........

(btw... anyone wanna buy a Audi TT Turbo? ;-) )