Facts
On November 9, 1966, Meier was driving his "Renault-Dauphine" passenger car on the N 3 motorway towards Zurich at a speed of approximately 95 km/h at around 7 pm at night. As he was overtaking a slower-moving small car, he switched to low beam. In the beam of light, he then recognized a chair lying on the left lane. Meier was able to swerve to the left, but lost control of his vehicle, which then started to skid, tipped over to the left, and slid on its roof until it was stopped by the guardrail on the right side of the road.
The district commissioner's office (Statthalteramt) of the district of Horgen fined Meier 30 Swiss francs for lack of control of the vehicle and failure to adapt the speed. However, the single judge in criminal matters of the District Court of Horgen acquitted Meier, as the evasive maneuver could not be attributed to him as culpable behavior, and he had not been obliged to adapt the speed of 95 km/h to the range of the low beam on the motorway.
The district commissioner's office of Horgen contested the acquittal by means of a cantonal nullity appeal. The First Criminal Chamber of the High Court of the Canton of Zurich found Meier guilty of a violation of Art. 4 para. 1 of the Road Traffic Regulations (VRV) and fined him 20 Swiss francs.
Considerations
The Court of Cassation states that according to the express provision of Art. 1 para. 2 of the Road Traffic Act (SVG), the traffic regulations of this Act and the supplementary implementing regulations of the VRV apply to all roads open to public traffic, including motorways. The Federal Council has indeed issued special traffic regulations for motorways in Art. 36 VRV, but these do not concern the driving speed.
The provision of Art. 4 para. 1 VRV,…