Saturday, August 14, 2010
Largest Speeding Fine
- Swedish driver
sets world record
BERN, Switzerland -- A 37-year-old Swedish motorist
caught driving his his Mercedes SLS AMG at 290km/h (180mph)
in Switzerland could be given a world-record speeding fine
of SFr1.08m ($1m; £656,000), prosecutors say - setting the
new world record for the Largest
Speeding Fine
. 
Photo: The Swedish motorist was caught
driving at 300kmh on a Swiss highway in his Mercedes SLS AMG,
like this model.
( enlarge
photo
)
Under Swiss law, the level of fine is determined
by the wealth of the driver and the speed recorded.
The previous World
Record for the Largest Speeding Fine
was set by a Ferrari
Testarossa
driver with a $290,000 speeding fine after
the motorist reportedly drove through a Swiss village in a
candy red Ferrari Testarossa at 137 km/h, which was 57 km/h
over the speed limit.
Local police spokesman Benoit Dumas said
of the latest case that "nothing can justify a speed of 290km/h".
"It is not controllable. It must have taken 500m
to stop," he said.
The Swede's car - a Mercedes SLS AMG -
has been impounded and in principle he could be forced to
pay a daily fine of SFr3,600 for 300 days.
In Switzerland and Germany it is common
for fines to be levied in such a way. In Switzerland the level
of the fine is always dependant on a person‘s income - and
clearly the suspect in this speeding affair is very rich indeed.
The car had evaded being zapped by a number
of radars simply because it was too fast and the machinery
was incapable of clocking speeds beyond 200kmh. A new generation
of radar machines finally clocked the Swede travelling at
close to 300kmh on the highway between Bern and Lausanne last
Friday.
The unnamed man was caught by a speed camera
on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne. The police arrested
him shortly afterwards when he stopped in a layby and he was
released after questioning.
It is believed he was collecting the brand new
car from a seller in Germany.
He is unlikely to go to prison but
is expected to be hit with the landmark fine because of the
way speeding fines are administered in Switzerland. When his
case is judged by a magistrate the fine will be based on his
income and the 'extraordinary speed' at which he was travelling.
'I think the speedo on the car, which is
new, is faulty,' the driver told police.
The car will now undergo a technical inspection
to see if his tale of a faulty odometer holds up.
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Saturday, August 14, 2010
