Facts
On August 10, 1981, [S.] ran a red light with his semi-trailer in Chur, colliding with a car arriving correctly from the left. Analysis of the tachograph disc of his vehicle revealed that it had driven at speeds up to 100 km/h between 4:05 and 8:00 that morning. The Grisons Cantonal Court convicted [S.] for running the red light and speeding, sentencing him to 8 days' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 200 francs. [S.] appealed against the conviction for speeding.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal dismisses the appeal. It considers that Art. 33 para. 3 of the Ordinance on the Construction and Equipment of Road Vehicles (OCE) does not establish an exhaustive list of the possible uses of the tachograph. This provision aims to indicate the reasons that led the legislator to make the installation of tachographs mandatory in certain categories of vehicles, namely the control of working and rest times as well as the determination of speeds in the event of an accident. However, the legislator has not thereby excluded other possible uses of this instrument, in particular to establish retrospectively the non-compliance with the maximum authorized speed, even in the absence of an accident.
A restriction of the fundamental principle…