An American's guide to Switzerland's speed limits.

For the longest time, I was so confused by Switzerland's speed limit signs. Now after observing the swiss driving in their natural habitat for over a year, I have grasped the complex workings of Swiss speed limits.
Here is an American's guide to Swiss speed limits.

i used to think that knowing the speed limit was as simple as looking at a sign and reading the number boy was i wrong today we are talking about swiss speed limits so let's just imagine that it's your very first trip to switzerland you land in zurich of course on your way through the airport you're a little bit traumatized by the strange noises on the train but you make it to your rental car safely which just so happens to be this sexy van next thing you know you're cruising the swiss countryside not a care in the world you see a round funny-looking sign on the side of the road you think to yourself oh that's probably one of those speed limit signs i better not go faster than 60 and you continue on
you think to yourself whoa look at those two pointy mountains those have gotta be the best looking mountains in switzerland and you're right they are but then you see another sign now you've never seen anything quite like this before it looks like a speed limit sign but it's got a slash through it normally a slash means that like you can't do something or something's cut in half or maybe that something's removed so maybe this sign means that you can't drive 60 no that that doesn't make any sense maybe it means that the speed limit of 60 is removed but why would you put up a sign to tell you that the speed limit is not 60. there are no other speed limit signs here and the only other speed limit sign you've seen on this road is a sign for 60. so if the speed limit's not 60 then what's the speed limit it doesn't make any sense ah but maybe this is one of those roads like in germany where there's no speed limit you can go as fast as you want if you reach that conclusion your trip to switzerland will be very expensive fortunately you're smarter than that you know that the swiss love their order they wouldn't just allow you to drive as fast as you would like there must be a speed limit here this sign must mean something else just then a swiss comes walking down the street you think to yourself oh he probably knows the answer to this question maybe i should ask him but wait if i ask him such a ridiculous question like how do i read a speed limit sign he'll probably think that americans are not so smart so you fool him with your best british accent hold up there laddie what's this here showing me you can drive aid here

Früher dachte ich, dass es so einfach ist, das Tempolimit zu kennen, wie auf ein Schild zu schauen und die Nummer zu lesen. Ich habe mich heute geirrt. Wir sprechen über Schweizer Tempolimits. Stellen wir uns also vor, es ist Ihre allererste Reise in die Schweiz, in der Sie in Zürich landen Natürlich sind Sie auf Ihrem Weg durch den Flughafen ein wenig traumatisiert von den seltsamen Geräuschen im Zug, aber Sie schaffen es sicher zu Ihrem Mietwagen, der zufällig dieser sexy Van ist, als nächstes wissen Sie, dass Sie durch die Schweizer Landschaft fahren Keine Sorge auf der Welt, du siehst ein rundes, lustig aussehendes Schild am Straßenrand, das du dir denkst. Oh, das ist wahrscheinlich eines dieser Tempolimitschilder. Ich gehe besser nicht schneller als 60 und du machst weiterSie denken sich, Sie sehen sich diese beiden spitzen Berge an, die die am besten aussehenden Berge in der Schweiz sein müssen, und Sie haben Recht, aber dann sehen Sie ein anderes Zeichen, jetzt haben Sie so etwas noch nie gesehen, bevor es wie eine Geschwindigkeit aussieht Limit-Zeichen, aber es hat einen Schrägstrich. Normalerweise bedeutet ein Schrägstrich, dass Sie etwas nicht tun können oder dass etwas halbiert wird oder dass etwas entfernt wurde. Vielleicht bedeutet dieses Zeichen, dass Sie nicht 60 fahren können, nein, das macht das nicht Auf jeden Fall bedeutet dies, dass das Tempolimit von 60 entfernt wurde, aber warum sollten Sie ein Schild anbringen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass das Tempolimit nicht 60 ist? Hier gibt es keine anderen Tempolimitzeichen und das einzige andere Tempolimitzeichen, das Sie haben Auf dieser Straße ist ein Zeichen für 60 zu sehen. Wenn das Tempolimit also nicht 60 ist, macht das Tempolimit keinen Sinn. Ah, aber vielleicht ist dies eine dieser Straßen wie in Deutschland, auf denen es kein Tempolimit gibt, als das Sie fahren können schnell wie du willst, wenn du zu diesem schluss kommst deine reise nach switze rland wird sehr teuer sein glücklicherweise bist du schlauer als dass du weißt, dass die Schweizer ihre Bestellung lieben, sie würden dir nicht nur erlauben, so schnell zu fahren, wie du möchtest, dass es hier ein Tempolimit geben muss. Dieses Zeichen muss in diesem Moment etwas anderes bedeuten Ein Schweizer kommt die Straße entlang, die Sie sich denken.

[stuckclamp]

These traffic signs are standardized across europe. And don't tell me there are no general maximum speeds for different types of roads in the United States

[Shortismiles]

I‘m swiss and i love youre videos. It‘s so funny to see an outside few in things that are just normal to myself. Haha keep it up😍

[marcelburkhard]

There's one more little thing though, I'm sure you've seen those "60" signs with a arrow pointing up and down below them. That means the speed limit is still 60 and hints to another rule: If there's an intersection and no speed limit sign after you've made it through, the speed limit reverts back to the default of the given road type, thus there needs to be a sign to repeat it. There will not always be an explicit 60-slashed sign in those cases (but in most). And tricky question sometimes is: "Was this a road entrance or an intersection?"

[noahfetz]

Ok, I've binge watched all of your videos now after one got recommended to me, and there's one thing I don't understand... Why do you have so few subscribers and views? This type of content is the perfect length, informative and entertaining. And also your editing is very good. YouTube's strange sometimes... You deserve more viewers for sure! Greetings from Graubünden :)

[erkanalpman]

Accidentally stumbled on your video and ... laughed wholeheartedly )))) it's both entertaining and very wisely explained! Well done and have lots of fun in this small jewel of a country. I'm already looking forward to enjoying you relating your experience with either following or being stuck in the middle of a column of tanks and the road rules for dealing with these situations lol

[Ayzrito]

Welcome back. Love this channel so much

[neomey]

Hi :)
I'm a Switzerland cityzen, and it's funny to know what's "strange" in Switzerland.
Thank you for your video about Switzerland, they are funny and let a few things be seens with other eyes than ourselves. Take care and have fun in this little edge of the world. ;)

[kmpqrvm]

as a swiss, i couldn’t explain it better. 😅👍🏻

[edterryberry]

My folks moved to Fribourg when I was 19 and while visiting I drove a lot since my dad was cool always threw me the keys. I'm a Canadian guy and didn't find the signs too confusing then. Flash forward to Aug 2016, then with my 18 year old son we rent a little Audi for over 2 weeks of touring Switzerland. Things had changed to the more confusing resulting in a speeding box ticket sent in the mail for doing 6km over in a 2 lane roundabout near Geneva.
100 Swiss francs plus 60 for being late since they don't accept bank drafts. It's a bummer but I'll be back, Alps of Europe are the best!
Cheers Bro.

[SwitzerlandInsider]

really cool video, i enjoyed watching it a lot!

[Sicmania]

being from Einsiedeln, i recognized all signs and scenaries😊

[rocket]

Same system in France, but expressways are 110 kph and 130 kph for the (most often paid) highways

[timmccabe]

That was a really helpful translation of a fairly esoteric (to an American:-) aspect of navigating Switzerland. Thanks!

[ihadaphoneandimeadvideos]

Does two mountains i live there and does two mountais ore nothing compared to the mountains in valllais

[vampire]

Some swiss speedlimits are more meant as a challenge then a prohibition (especially some 80-zones outside cities).

[adrianguggisberg]

These signs are not exclusive to Switzerland. They are the same in all of Europe. The only thing that's different is the colour of the signs: Green for dual carriage ways and express roads, blue for state roads and white for community roads. The rest of Europe has blue for dual carriage ways, green for main roads and yellow for small roads.

[geesehoward]

Hang on I'm English. Now, when I go to Switzerland Im gonna get pointed at and they will start laughing wont

[melusineshaw]

Ho my God, I'm crying out loud (laughing)! Your tone when you speak, mystery and scary, ho là là, you killed me. I'm driving for 35 years and I still don't exactly know what the speed limits are when I'm nor on a highway neither inside a city... And your video just teached me that there is a slow highway in

[stephensmith]

The diagonal sign is used on some New Zealand roads. It means you can go the full speed limit (100 kph).

[rainerleicht]

Well observed, now that you mentioned that it looks somehow odd. With the numerous speed signs, it was probably nicer to always see what the current limit is.
History: speed limits in Switzerland emerged gradually. When introduced they were higher than today eventually reduced following the energy crisis in the 1970ies and the forest crisis (Waldsterben) in the 1990ies. So initially that end-of-speedlimit sign made sense. Still true on unlimited German highways.