Swiss speed limits

To illustrate how speed limits work here in Switzerland, I'll tell you the Parable of the Waiter.

You sit down for dinner at a restaurant that serves beef, chicken, and fish. You know you want the beef. After you've looked at the menu for a while, the server comes to take your order. You say, "I don't want the fish." The server walks away to convey your order to the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, he returns with the exact beef dish you wanted.

That's how speed limits work here in Switzerland. You can be driving along and see a sign that says "60." (I'm talking kilometers here, not miles.) "Fine," you say to yourself. "I can drive 60." A half mile later, you come across another sign that has a "60" with a slash through it. That means that the speed limit is no longer 60 and that it has reverted to what it was before you entered the 60 zone. Heaven help you if you can't figure out what the speed limit was before it went to 60, but that's what you're supposed to do.

It's doubly important to know the speed limit because the Swiss have cameras posted everywhere to enforce the speed limit. We've already been zinged once, and people tell us that traffic tickets are just part of the cost of living here. You may or may not see a flash, but a couple of weeks later, you get a ticket in the mail. Bummer. I'll have more about the Swiss fondness for rules in general in another entry.