Speed cameras are always a controversial topic in the car community. Some believe they’re a painful revenue-raising measure from hell, while others consider them a useful safety device that doesn’t affect law-abiding drivers. There’s probably one thing both sides can agree on, though. Ducks should probably be exempt from speed enforcement, right?
This story comes to us from the town of Köniz, Switzerland. As shared by authorities on Facebook, on April 13 this year, a duck was captured by one of the city’s speed cameras, flying at low altitude over the road. The camera triggered for good reason—the bird was clocked at 52 km/h (32 mph). That’s a full 22 km/h (14 mph) over the posted 30 km/h (19 mph) speed limit.
So far, so funny. But what makes this story even better is that the exact same thing happened on this exact day, seven long years prior.
Jump back to 2018, and DW had the near-identical story of a duck triggering the town’s speed camera. It occurred on April 13, the very same day, on the very same camera, at the very same speed of 52 km/h. Spooky. Even the time of day was close—in 2018, the bird flew by at 19:31. In 2025, it passed by at 19:54. There has been some speculation that the same duck might have been involved in both incidents seven years apart. However, with the average duck having a lifespan of 5 to 10 years, it’s perhaps an outside shot.
It’s worth noting that 2018 was a rough year for speeding ducks in Köniz. As noted by police at the time, the same camera had snapped another offender on April 16, too.
The speed camera appears to have been a mobile or portable unit, as it does not appear on Google Street View images of the street in question. In all cases, the ducks were lucky to escape prosecution. In Switzerland, speeding at 20 km/h or more over the limit in a built-up area comes with a court summons, hefty fines, and a minimum one-month driving ban.
The first speeding duck from 2018.
You might be questioning how this happens. The simple fact is that speed cameras are typically fairly simple devices without a lot of intelligence built in. Unlike humans, they’re not so great at differentiating ducks from cars—let’s explore why!
Key to a speed camera’s operation is how it measures the speed of vehicles traveling past. The camera part of the speed camera has nothing to do with speed measurement. Instead, a simple Doppler radar sensor is used for this purpose. The radar device emits radio waves, and listens for returns that bounce off from passing vehicles. The frequency of the returned radio wave depends on the speed of the passing vehicle (this concept is the Doppler Effect). If the vehicle is traveling towards the radar sensor, the frequency will be higher the faster the vehicle is traveling. Meanwhile, if the vehicle is traveling away from the radar sensor, the frequency will be lower. With a simple equation, the change in frequency can be used to determine the speed of the vehicle.
Doppler radar sensors is that they don’t only work on cars. They work on anything moving that reflects radio waves. That could be a bicycle, a motorcycle, a really fast runner, or hell—even a duck. While a big metal car will be a better radio reflector, it’s possible for a duck to reflect enough radio energy back to the sensor to generate a reading. A duck a flying past a speed camera at 52 km/h will cause he same frequency shift as a car traveling the same speed.
The thing about the speed camera is it just triggers based on speed. The Doppler sensor says “hey, there’s an object moving at 52 km/h” and then the camera fires. In these cases though, there was no car—just a fast-moving duck. As far as taking the image goes, that just happens whenever the Doppler sensor picks up an object moving fast enough over the speed limit. It’s true that modern AI-powered post-processing can automatically identify cars from ducks in speed camera images, for example, but all that happens after the picture is taken.
Thus, it’s entirely possible for a duck to trigger a speed camera. It’s perhaps just due to their low radar reflectivity that it doesn’t happen more often. It may be that the Swiss ducks of Köniz are particularly metallic, or that the close quarters to the speed camera enhanced the likelihood of the Doppler radar actually picking up a return from the feathered animal.
This story makes for a great teaching moment. It’s a launching off point to learn about Doppler radar and speed measurement techniques, as well as other topics in physics. Beyond that, it suggests there should be studies on the radar reflective properties of Swiss ducks and their curious seven-year migration down a particular town road. It’s also a good lesson for the faster cyclists among us—you too could trigger a speed camera if you really put some effort into it!
Image credits: Town of Koniz, Kecko, Google Maps via screenshot
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The Swiss know three facts about ducks, and they’re all wrong.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, *and* speeds like a duck…
Reminded of how for a good decade the deer botfly was considered by some to be the fastest of all living things with a flying speed of over 800 mph (!!) starting with a claim by the entomologist Charles Henry Tyler Townsend in 1927 which was finally debunked in 1938 by the physicist Irving Langmuir when he published some observations which included the following:
“To maintain a velocity of 800 miles per hour, the 0.3-gram (0.011 oz) fly would have had to consume more than 150% of its body weight in food every second;
The fly would have produced an audible sonic boom;
The supersonic fly would have been invisible to the naked eye; and
The impact trauma of such a fly colliding with a human body would resemble that of a gunshot wound.”
For the record (ha) the deer botfly’s actual top speed is about 25 mph or so which is actually still extremely quick for flying insects.
That picture of the deployable Swiss speed camera reminded me of the French comedian and YouTuber Rémi Gaillard when he impersonated a speed camera (with results perhaps not altogether unexpected)
https://youtu.be/uvYxXBMqEOM?si=mIURq24IfLRCUsSH
This duck has run a fowl of the law and now it’s goose is cooked
“If she moves at the same velocity as a duck…she’s a witch!!!”
Back to back Holy Grail quotes, that’s what I come here for.
We may not know what the unladen velocity of an African or European swallow is, but we now know the airspeed velocity of an unladen duck.
Must not have Ducks Unlimited in Switzerland.
Here in Toronto, those speed cameras have become sitting ducks for vandals. One was even tossed in a duck pond.
My parents live partway up a small valley with a pond near the end. For years, a couple Canada geese would fly up the valley each evening, and then back out each morning. We called them Click and Clack. So I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if it was the same duck, or related to it.
Click: Don’t fly like my brother.
Clack: And don’t fly like my brother.
Quick and Quack?
Thank you for using Canada geese and not Canadian geese! You give me hope…
It’s a constant struggle!
How does one go about mailing a speeding ticket to a duck? He must be stopped.
You just put it on his bill.
Featherall Express
Soon to be on the menu: speedking duck
in my concussed state, this made me laugh louder than it should have.
Thanks! Sorry about your head, though 😮
Convoy is getting a 4K UHD release in July. Maybe you need to be Gen X or older to remember this movie.
O hear the sad tale of Chuck
the unfortunate duck
who had the bad luck
while playing in the muck
to find himself stuck
in the path of an oncoming Mack truck
and who announced, “Well F*ck-
this truly does suck!”
as he was struck
and tossed like a hockey puck

Well this article will be added to my waves and EMR physics lesson for next year.
I think today should be called: Lewin Day
Can you guess why?
*Golf clap*