Switzerland charges CHF 40 for the right to use any of its motorways or expressways. The Autobahnvignette has held that price since 1995; a 2026 vignette is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, and since 1 August 2023 you can buy it as an e-Vignette through the federal customs office (BAZG/FOCBS) Via portal, linked to your number plate instead of stuck to the windscreen.
The same vignette covers both classes of national road — the Autobahn (motorway, blue signs, 120 km/h) and the Autostrasse (expressway, green signs, 100 km/h) — and rolling onto either without one is a CHF 200 fine plus the cost of the vignette itself. Inside town, the default is 50 km/h, but Lausanne already caps the entire city at 30, Zurich is rolling 30 km/h out across nearly all streets, and Bern, Basel, Geneva, Lucerne, Fribourg and St. Gallen are converging on the same target — assume 30 in any residential street unless signed otherwise.
Where Switzerland diverges sharply from its neighbours is in how it punishes serious offences. Minor speeding sits in the fixed Ordnungsbussen tariff — CHF 40 for 1–5 km/h over in town, CHF 250 at 11–15 km/h over — but the moment the magistrate reaches for the day-fine system (Tagessatz, StGB Art. 34), one bad afternoon can cost a month's salary.
The Raserartikel under Art. 90 para. 4 SVG cuts in at +50 km/h in a 50 zone, +60 in an 80 zone, and +80 on a motorway: that's a mandatory one-to-four-year custodial sentence, two-year minimum licence withdrawal, and — in January 2026 — a German visitor was handed Switzerland's highest-ever speeding fine after a Tagessatz multiplication. The 0.5‰ BAC limit is unremarkable; the 0.1‰ rule for novice drivers in their three-year Probezeit and for professional drivers (Art. 31(2bis) SVG) is effectively zero tolerance.
A few practical realities: Pentecost weekend now beats summer for Gotthard tailbacks (20 km, three-hour wait on 23 May 2026); the San Bernardino is roughly 45 minutes longer but rarely jammed. Daytime running lights have been mandatory since 1 January 2014 under Via Sicura, fined CHF 40 if off.
Winter tyres are not legally required, but if you crash on summer rubber in snow your insurer and the cantonal police will treat that as your fault. Cantonal enforcement varies — Vaud and Ticino run the country's most active radar networks.
Reviewed by Pawan Priyadarshi
Founder of AutoviaTest · About the editor
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