Zurich police e-bikes to have sirens and flashing lights
The new e-bikes have already proven themselves dozens of times in real police operations
Stadtpolizei Zürich
The 20 fast electric bicycles belonging to Zurich city police will all be equipped with sirens and blue flashing lights. This is a Swiss first, the force said on Thursday – at the same time denying it was an April Fool’s joke.
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/ts
Русский
ru
Полицейские электромотоциклы в Цюрихе оснастят сиренами
The experimental fitting of the first two high-performance electric bikes – also called electric motorbikes – with sirens and flashing lights was announced last year on April 1. As a result, many people thought it was a gag.
“What sounded like a genuine April Fool’s joke has in fact already proven itself dozens of times in real police operations and will now be definitively introduced after a test phase of about one year,” Zurich police said in a statementExternal link on Thursday.
Zurich is the first police force in Switzerland to equip all fast e-bikes marked as police vehicles with a system approved by the cantonal Road Traffic Office, it said. “Future fast e-bikes will also receive the equipment for urgent official journeys right from the start.”
In 2018 the Zurich police bought three of these fast electric bicycles for testing. Since then it has bought 17 more and decided to dispense with classic bicycles.
More
More
Coronavirus fuels Swiss bicycling surge
This content was published on
While demand for public transport collapsed during the partial lockdown, bicycle usage soared across the country.
This content was published on
Nemo brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Switzerland with a victory on Saturday evening in Malmö, Sweden. It is Switzerland's third victory in the history of the music contest.
Switzerland abstains from vote on Palestinian bid for full UN membership
This content was published on
On Friday, Switzerland abstained from the vote at the General Assembly on granting the Palestinians new rights at the United Nations (UN).
Protein in abdominal fat could help shape obesity treatment
This content was published on
The study analysed fat cells from different locations in the body, and found that those in the abdomen have unique properties.
North African asylum claims fall after rapid Swiss processing
This content was published on
The accelerated procedure, now out of its test phase, has resulted in a significant drop in applications from North African countries.
This content was published on
The artist's song "The Code" focuses on their journey as a nonbinary individual. It is one of the favourites to win this year's contest.
This content was published on
The foreign ministry has yet to comment officially on the claims, made in United States diplomatic cables released last week by the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website. The alleged bugging came to light in cables sent in September 2006 from the US embassy in Bern to the US State Department. In it, an unnamed official expressed security…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.