‘Guardian Angel’ Hired by Police to Stop Drivers Speeding

Drivers in Switzerland who spot a winged man dressed in white at the side of the road shouldn’t be alarmed – it’s not a vision, it’s a guardian angel.

Police in the state of Fribourg have hired the professional actor to deter motorists from speeding. The ‘road angel’, who forms part of a safe-driving campaign, will wave and flap his wings at motorists travelling too fast.

He’s the real-life version of an angel that features in the initiative’s TV commercials who is hit by a young motorist as he hurriedly drives out of his garage. The advert advises heavy-footed drivers to ‘Slow Down. Take It Easy’.

‘The idea is to provide a sort of concrete protection, to have a real angel telling drivers to be responsible,’ Benoît Dumas, a Fribourg police spokesman, said.

‘To have a physical presence like that makes the message more visible, and it’s out of the ordinary.’

The actor, whose identity has not been released for privacy reasons, works 20 hours per week and will ‘appear’ in different parts of the 670-square-mile region of western Switzerland.

‘The initiative will go on until at least end of October, but it could be prolonged. After all, you know, angels are eternal,’ Dumas said.

Drivers who spot the angel are being encouraged to e-mail the police – they will then be entered into a lottery for a driving lesson. Officers say it’s too early to tell if the ‘guardian angel’ has discouraged speeding in the mountainous country, where speed limits vary from 75mph to 31mph.