Facts
On February 6, 1974, [B.] turned his vehicle from the General-Guisanstrasse into the Tösstalstrasse in Winterthur. When he passed the traffic light, it was red. However, it is not established that he had already crossed the stop line at the red light or that he could have stopped before it when the signal turned yellow.
The single judge of the district of Winterthur found [B.] guilty of disregarding the red light (Art. 27 para. 1 RTA) and fined him 50 francs. An appeal for nullity by [B.] was rejected by the Supreme Court of the Canton of Zurich on June 11, 1975.
[B.] filed an appeal for nullity, requesting the case to be remanded to the Supreme Court for a new examination. The Winterthur city police department concluded that the appeal should be dismissed.
Considerations
According to the Federal Tribunal, the Supreme Court did not violate federal law in its interpretation of Art. 49 para. 4 let. a and Art. 54 para. 3 of the Road Signage Ordinance (RSO). One who, upon the appearance of the yellow light, can no longer stop before the stop line, must nevertheless do so after it, but before the intersection, especially when the red light prohibits passage at the entrance to the latter.
The purpose of traffic lights is to protect a specific road area (intersection, pedestrian crossing, construction site, narrowing, etc.). This objective can only be achieved if the stop is mandatory as soon as the…