**People were far from convinced by the motor car in the early 20th century. Especially in Graubünden. Young motorists on a main road, circa 1913.** Swiss National Museum

Graubünden: the canton that said no to the motorcar

Cars were banned in the canton of Graubünden from 1900 to 1925. It took nine popular votes to change that.

Dominik Landwehr

Dominik Landwehr is a cultural and media scientist and lives in Winterthur.

The first car in Switzerland was displayed in 1896 at the national exhibition in Geneva. Driving was a risky business in those days: cars were prone to break down and the roads were bad, as carriages did not need wide tarmacked roads. The first car in Graubünden belonged to member of the cantonal parliament Gaudenz Issler (1853-1942) from Davos. He purchased it in 1897 subject to the condition that he could return it if he was not satisfied. He soon did so on the grounds that the Davos roads were not suited to cars. In 1968, country doctor Rudolf Campell recalled in his book Der Kampf ums Automobil in Graubünden (the fight to establish the car in Graubünden) the sight of a motor car being pulled by two farm horses in the Engadine mountain village of Celerina around the turn of the century. The vehicle was going from Austria to Italy and Engadine was chosen as the quickest route. At the border post in Martina, the driver was told that cars were banned throughout the canton. So he had to rely on horsepower (the four-legged kind) to continue his journey.

**One of the few photographs dating from the car ban: a car being pulled by horses through the village of Scuol Tarasp in 1909.** State Archives of Graubünden FN_XII_Nr._11319a

And he was far from the only one, as photos from that time will attest. In fact, the executive chamber of the canton of Graubünden parliament issued a canton-wide ban on cars on 24 August 1900. It did this on its own authority in response to many complaints about the motorised “monsters” whose “speed, noise and smell” endangered other road users as reported in the local press. The ban met with criticism from some quarters and the government had to issue certain exemptions. In 1906, the legislative chamber of the cantonal parliament drafted a law allowing for the opening of some roads to motorised transport. A referendum opposing this law ensued. The popular vote of 13 October 1907 emphatically confirmed the total ban. This forced the government to continue authorising all exceptions itself.

The popular vote went against the motor car and the subject remained a bone of contention in the canton for 25 years. There were no fewer than nine cantonal votes on the car ban during that time and another federal vote on the article of the constitution relating to car traffic. Emotions were stirred and the battle lines drawn. While some people spoke of a “border closure harking back to medieval times”, others railed against the “dull Graubünden passivity”. Many tourist locations also favoured a ban initially: “People seeking or in need of rest from Hamburg, Berlin or London do not want the hustle and bustle of the city in the fresh summer air, no passing motorists, no racers driving away the regular visitors, no dust-stirring and foul smelling vehicles,” as reported in the press. One of the concerned guests was Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) who regularly spent his holidays in Pontresina with his wife between 1893 and 1913.

**Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen preferred a carriage to a car.** Wikimedia / Library of Congress

On 21 August 1905, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen raised the question as to “whether horses are still afraid of cars; road traffic has increased so much that it would be foolish not to travel with horses who are comfortable around cars”. His wife echoed his concern on 8 July 1906: “My husband would have liked to hear from you about how your horses are now with traffic and whether they can now use the roads alongside the motor car.” Both would have easily been able to use the Albula railway, which opened in 1903, but they were keen on the horse-drawn carriage. Travelling through the Alps by private carriage helped Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen appreciate the beautiful surroundings. But it wasn’t the cheap option and ordinary folk had to walk on the road from Chur to Bellinzona.

Expensive road maintenance

Even if some voices outside the country made fun of the conservative alpine residents – German author Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865-1910) wrote somewhat disparagingly about “the cow-eyed bemusement of the Swiss”, when they saw a car – there were nevertheless tangible reasons for the opposition by the Graubünden folk: the canton of Graubünden has the largest surface area of any canton in Switzerland and it had a low population density. The communes were largely responsible for maintaining the extensive road network. The roads and paths were owned by the community and built and maintained at no charge in many instances. The first motorists were wealthy tourists from the lowlands or outside Switzerland. The car travelled on roads not designed for motor cars but for horse-drawn carriages; they were made from crushed stone, gravel and sand and not tarmacked. The fast motor cars threw up dust and dirt. In addition, there was a disproportionate number of fatal accidents in the early days of the motor car.

**Travelling by car was a hazardous undertaking in the early days. Picture of a road traffic accident, circa 1920.** Swiss National Museum

The swing in sentiment in favour of the motor car was triggered to a large extent by the First World War. With horses in scarce supply, motorised transport became something of a necessity. The advent of the Post Bus also played its part. The first postal route in the canton of Graubünden opened in 1919, reducing the travel time from Reichenau to Flims by two hours and 50 minutes. The tourist locations gradually came to realise that they would lose business if the ban stayed in place. The opposition was not only in the canton of Graubünden. For example, Uri issued a travel ban on its alpine roads in 1901. The Gotthard pass didn’t open to motor cars until 1906 and even then only for a few hours per day. This restriction was finally lifted in 1917. Other cantons also observed Sunday motoring bans. At the same time, there were some major intercantonal disparities: in western Switzerland, Geneva to be precise, people were a lot more accepting of the motor car than in the German-speaking region. That was due not least to its proximity to France where motorised transport caught on more quickly.

**The benefits of Post Bus traffic helped win over the sceptics in Graubünden.** e-pics

The car ban in Graubünden was finally lifted permanently on 21 June 1925. Federalism impeded motorised transport at a national level. Although authority for legislating motorised transport had been a federal matter since 1921, it was not until 1932 that a federal act was passed for motor vehicles and bicycle transport.