Facts
The case concerns a complainant who was fined by the District Court of Zofingen for disregarding a regulatory sign "Prohibition for motor vehicles". The High Court of the Canton of Aargau dismissed his appeal. The complainant then filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Court and requested that the contested decision be overturned and the matter be remanded to the lower instance for acquittal.
The driving ban for the Pomernweg in Zofingen had been decided by the City Council on July 12, 1995 and published in the Official Gazette of the Canton of Aargau on August 28, 1995. The ban applied to the section from the Pomerngut F1 property to the entrance to the Blumenheim retirement home. However, the prohibition sign was located approximately 6 meters before the start of the prohibited zone. The complainant turned left from the gravel lot into the Pomernweg without passing the prohibition sign.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that traffic signs are the form of an official order to regulate certain local traffic conditions. Whoever disregards such signs is punished according to Art. 27 para. 1 in conjunction with Art. 90 of the Road Traffic Act. However, the decisive factor is that the signs are legally valid, i.e. properly ordered and published by the competent authority.
In the present case, the driving ban for the Pomernweg was legally valid, even though the prohibition sign was placed a few meters before the start of the prohibited zone. For every user of the southern part of the…