Canton examines measure Passage control in Birsfelden could be overturned
The municipality of Birsfelden has imposed 28,000 fines for violations of the automatic passage control. However, the measure is now being reviewed by the Basel government.
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- The municipality of Birsfelden has already issued 28,000 fines since the start of the automatic drive-through check in September.
- Now the cantonal government is reviewing the measure. Previously, one person lodged an appeal after failing to obtain an exemption permit.
- Other municipalities in Switzerland are also planning measures similar to those in Birsfelden.
The whole of Switzerland is talking about the automatic transit control in Birsfelden. The Basel municipality has since collected around 100,000 francs in fines - per day.
Since September, cameras have been used to fine drivers who drive through the village on defined district roads without authorization but stay there for less than 15 minutes. The municipality of Birsfelden has handed out around 28,000 fines since September.
Meanwhile, complaints against the measure are raining down - and not just from fined drivers. The Basel government now wants to review the municipality's controversial measure, as reported by SRF "Rundschau".
According to the report, a person who was not granted a special permit to drive through has lodged a complaint with the cantonal government. The council now wants to examine not only the specific individual case, but also the entire measure.
"Difficult questions"
The outcome is completely open, as Markus Schefer, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Basel, explains. It must be examined in each case whether the legal basis is sufficiently precise and whether the ban is proportionate.
It must also be clarified whether it violates overriding law or even the protection of privacy in the Federal Constitution. "These are all difficult questions that even a government legal service cannot simply shake out of its sleeve," says Schefer.
Municipalities take a close look
The dispute over the automatic drive-through checkpoint is also attracting a great deal of interest elsewhere. This is because residents in many other municipalities also suffer from avoidance traffic, for example in Egerkingen in the canton of Solothurn. Many drivers there take to the cantonal road when traffic backs up on the highway.
Johanna Bartholdi, mayor of the municipality for 16 years, is fighting for a through traffic control system based on the Birsfeld model and tells the "Rundschau" newspaper: "I feel somehow neglected by the Federal Roads Office or rather the federal government. What happens on the cantonal road or the municipal roads is actually - let's be honest - of no importance to them."
Canton of Zug examines legal basis
Cham ZG also wants to restrict through traffic. When the bypass road is completed there, a through traffic control system like the one in Birsfelden is to be introduced - and fines will be imposed as soon as someone drives through the town in less than ten minutes.
The canton of Zug is currently examining "whether and how a legal basis for automatic access control could be created." The security directorate is therefore following the decision for Birsfelden closely.
Meanwhile, Birsfelden is hoping for a positive outcome to the cantonal government's review. According to Christoph Hiltmann, mayor of Birsfelden, things have "become much quieter in our neighborhoods".
