At night without alternating horn
The Federal Council wants to align the requirements for road vehicles with the new EU safety and environmental standards. Vehicles of the blue-light organizations are also affected. A consultation process is underway.
For vehicles of the fire department and civil defense, the ordinance revision should bring simplifications: They will now be classified as work vehicles (blue license plates) and thus benefit from longer inspection periods.
Furthermore, vehicles with flashing blue lights are to be allowed to use the flashing blue lights without an alternating horn on urgent journeys at night, as long as they do not deviate significantly from the traffic regulations or do not claim a special right of way. This principle, which is currently anchored in a leaflet, is to be transferred to ordinance law. It serves to protect the population from disturbances at night.
Agricultural and forestry vehicles
The EU has renewed the technical regulations for agricultural and forestry vehicles. These now include, in particular, higher requirements for braking systems and thus deviate from the applicable Swiss construction and equipment regulations. In order to ensure that Swiss vehicles already in circulation can be coupled together with EU vehicles and operated safely in the future, brake systems and trailer couplings must be coordinated with each other. In addition to this, the Federal Council is putting up for discussion an increase in the permissible length of front-mounted implements.
The exhaust emission regulations for work machines, tractors and certain vehicles with a limited maximum speed are to be extended to include the EU's new, stricter exhaust emission stage V. This will introduce similarly strict limits for these vehicles as for the EURO VI standard for trucks.
Simplified traffic approval
Furthermore, as part of the ordinance revisions, new and nearly new vehicles approved in the EU (not older than one year and less than 2000 km) will in future be able to be registered by submitting the EU certificate of conformity (CoC) without having to be presented to the cantonal road traffic office.
Alignment of tachograph regulations
Tachographs are used to monitor compliance with working time and rest period regulations for professional drivers. The new EU tachographs are connected to the global satellite network and have interfaces to intelligent traffic systems. The police will now be able to retrieve certain tachograph data via radio link for the purpose of triage during traffic controls. To ensure that Swiss hauliers continue to have access to the European road transport market with as few obstacles as possible, the new tachographs are to be introduced in Switzerland at the same time as in the EU.
The consultation on the amendments to the ordinances will last until April 25, 2018.
Source: Federal Council, Astra
