Egoists in traffic jams: Is it legal to take a shortcut via the rest area?
Selfish drivers in traffic jams Is it legal to cut across the rest area? If you're stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway during rush hour, you'll often see impatient drivers cutting across the rest area to save a few seconds, causing the traffic flow to slow down even more. But is this traffic jam driving legal - and are you allowed to block the tailgaters if necessary?
One more thing, then another: at critical points on the highway, cars repeatedly take shortcuts via rest areas or parking lots during traffic jams. Just one of many examples in Switzerland is the A1 near Zurich at the Gubrist tunnel with the Büsisee parking lot. Annoying: just like merging too early at the zipper, it leads to another bottleneck in traffic and only delays the flow of traffic even more. In other words, because one driver gains a few seconds, everyone behind them waits longer.
But is driving in traffic jams legal? Unfortunately. Because it disrupts the flow of traffic and also the spirit of partnership, fines are imposed elsewhere. Germany, for example, has two legal regulations: Entrances and exits may not be misused; rest areas are explicitly there for breaks. There is no legal problem in deducing this: It is illegal to drive over parking spaces. Fine: 75 euros. However, the Swiss Road Traffic Act simply lacks an article from which something like this could be interpreted. And without a legal basis, no ban and therefore no fine is possible. This has already been demanded politically, but legislative processes are complex.
The question remains: Can you block? Yes not! Not only because the threader may have just taken a regular break. Because in traffic jams, the zipper system is also mandatory at highway entrances. This means that anyone who fails to create a gap at the end of the merging lane will be fined 100 francs. Above all, however, there is no room for revenge in traffic: you must never react to the mistakes of others with your own mistakes, otherwise you will be severely punished, and rightly so. Incidentally, if you don't create a gap and the other person tailgates you anyway, you both pay a fine. If the whole thing leads to tricky maneuvers, you will be fined very dearly.
So it's best to stay relaxed and please think in terms of partnership: it's true, these tailgaters are annoying, but they gain almost nothing anyway. And in general, zipping up is the best way to ease the traffic jam as soon as possible. By the way: the police are increasingly reacting with speed checks. This is because the speed limit in parking lots is often 40 km/h, and people who drive through are usually in a hurry ... We appeal to common sense: if you stay in the convoy, you help to ensure that we all arrive as quickly as possible in the end.
