Posted on 05/16/2025 1:26:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A duck gets flashed flying at 52km/h in a 30 zone sets off a speed camera, and it might not be his first offence.
A duck has done what no one expected: triggered a Swiss speed camera. But the real twist? This may not have been his first time.
On April 13th 2025, in the quiet town of Köniz, near Bern in Switzerland, police reviewing routine radar footage were surprised to spot a mallard duck clocked at 52km/h in a 30km/h zone. The feathered flyer was snapped mid-air, in full flight — and clearly not respecting local traffic laws.
Just when you think the story couldn’t get weirder, it does. Authorities revealed that exactly seven years earlier, to the day — on 13 April 2018, at the very same location — a duck was caught flying at exactly 52km/h by the same radar. That coincidence has raised more than a few eyebrows.
Is it a strange act of nature, a bizarre case of déjà vu, or the same repeat offender returning to the scene of the flight? Some even wondered if the image had been tampered with.
But Swiss police were quick to shut down any suspicions. According to the municipality’s official Facebook post, the radar systems are tightly regulated and cannot be manipulated. The images are sealed and the equipment is tested and certified every year by the Federal Institute of Metrology.
Speeding duck goes viral and shows how sensitive radars really are While the duck won’t be receiving a fine any time soon, the case has gone viral, sparking a mix of amusement and disbelief online. It’s not every day a mallard gets flashed for speeding.
Though light-hearted in nature, the case is also a reminder of the accuracy of modern speed detection technology, even the most unexpected objects, from birds to bugs, can set them off. As one user joked in the comments: “At least he wasn’t texting while flying.”
Whatever the explanation, coincidence or repeat flight path, the people of Köniz will surely be keeping an eye on the skies every 13 April from now on.
And who knows… maybe next time the duck will slow down. Or not.
“Though light-hearted in nature, the case is also a reminder of the accuracy of modern speed detection technology,“
Hopefully it’s gotten better back in the 70s a radar detection company posted as an advertisement a picture of an “80 mile an hour tree”.
It’s easy to get the bird off of any speeding offense. I am sure that the law in this town doesn’t specify “air speed,” it just says “speed.“ Therefore the law is unclear, and is arbitrarily and capriciously enforced. Additionally, it is quite likely that planes speeding at a greater altitude (and, likely, an and, likely, a far greater speed ) above the town have not been issued citations, so we have a disperate enforcement of the law here.
I often have to ride the brakes in my 10000 lb f350 while driving in NYC. Forget in my Firebird. Practically have to put it in reverse
Flying anthing involves a minimum speed, or yall fall to the ground.
Radar speed detectors came from quantum physics which posits that your mouser, Mr. Stinker, can be alive and dead at the same time.
Ha... I once got pulled over on a bicycle for speeding through a town. The cop let me off....
multiply by .6 can call it close enough- (it’s .62 something but meh- .6 is close enough)
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