Wealthy Swiss BMW Driver Punished with $116,000 Fine for Tailgating

A Swiss court has imposed a hefty fine on a lawyer caught tailgating in his BMW 5 Series. The 58-year-old attorney now faces a penalty of approximately $116,000 after he was stopped in 2023 for following another vehicle too closely—at a distance of between 26 to 40 feet—while driving on the A1 highway near Zürich at speeds of up to 74 mph, as reported by local news source Nau.

At the time of the incident, the lawyer was behind the wheel of a turbo-diesel BMW 540d, according to Road and Track. While tailgating may be a stereotype associated with BMW drivers, the significant fine he is facing is notably tied to Switzerland’s Day-Fine system, which mandates that penalties be proportional to the offender’s income.

The lawyer reportedly earns around 1.7 million Swiss francs annually, equivalent to just over $2 million. The court has the discretion to impose fines ranging from 30 to 3,000 francs per day—about $35 to $3,500. In this case, they assessed the lawyer 50 daily fines, each set at 1,970 CHF, culminating in a total of 98,500 francs, or slightly more than $116,000. Additionally, he was charged a further fine of 15,000 francs along with another 5,000 in court-related costs.

The lawyer has appealed the fine, bringing the case before a higher court. He contended that the police did not inform him of his rights during interrogation and challenged the accuracy of the video footage used to evaluate his following distance.

Nonetheless, the court dismissed his arguments without hesitation. According to Nau, the lawyer noted that his BMW 540d was equipped with “sports and racing brakes,” but the court maintained that this factor did not alter the verdict.

This defense certainly aligns with the stereotype of a tailgating BMW driver. As a BMW owner myself, I can relate to the humorous stereotypes circulating among car enthusiasts. Ultimately, while the court did reduce the additional 15,000-franc fine to 10,000, the initial daily fine remained intact, resulting in the lawyer being responsible for a total of 111,500 francs, equivalent to just under $131,500. Despite his income level, losing six figures over a tailgating incident is substantial.