Facts
On 10 February 1965, around 1:50 pm, Hürlimann was driving his Chevrolet-Corvair vehicle on a wet road in the Sihl valley towards Langnau. In a curve called "Risletenkurve", his vehicle skidded and crossed the safety line, colliding with the trailer correctly driven by Willi Möckli in the opposite direction. Both vehicles were damaged.
On 9 May 1966, the Cantonal Court of Zurich found Hürlimann guilty of driving an unsafe vehicle (Art. 29 RTA), loss of vehicle control (Art. 31(1) RTA), failure to adapt speed (Art. 32(1) RTA) and failure to keep right (Art. 34(1) and (2) RTA). He was fined 200 Swiss francs under Art. 90(1) RTA.
Considerations
The Cantonal Court considered that driving an unsafe vehicle constituted an objective serious fault, but that Hürlimann could not be subjectively reproached for acting recklessly, as he did not know that the left rear tire was worn on the inside. His only fault was not having carefully checked the tire condition before first using the vehicle. Similarly, his speed of 70-80 km/h did not show recklessness, as it was not inherently too high, but only in view of the defective tire and his lack of experience with this rear-engine, automatic transmission vehicle. Consequently, there was neither direct nor eventual intent, nor gross negligence in the violation of traffic rules, so that Art. 90(2) RTA did not apply. Hürlimann's conduct only amounted to slight negligence,…