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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Now that's a speeding ticket... |
| 2010-08-18 |
| Police in Switzerland have seized a Swedish motorist's $290,000 Mercedes after he was caught driving 290 kilometres per hour on a Swiss motorway. That's about 180MPH for the kilometer illiterate... Swiss officials were unable to say if it was a record because they do not keep such nationwide data, but it "looks very close to one," federal roads office spokesman Thomas Rohrbach told AFP. Yep, could be... Police said in a statement that the 37-year-old driver had to be stopped by a neighbouring police force after he shot past a permanent speed trap. Damn, Muldoon! Did you see that! Umm...no. His driving licence and 570-horsepower black SLS AMG were seized after he was released from custody, and depending on his income, he could face a fine of up to one million Swiss francs (about $990,000). According to one report, the man blamed his speeding on a "faulty" speedometer. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it... A local magistrate ordered police to keep the car as security pending a likely court ruling and an eventual sentence. Driving more than 25 kilometres an hour over the 120-kilometre-per-hour speed limit on motorways in Switzerland is regarded as a criminal offence, and fines are based on a driver's income. Seeing how he owns a $290,000 car, I'll bet his income's pretty good... The Swedish motorist's alleged speed goes off the scale and the penalty is at the judge's discretion, up to a maximum of about $1 million for speeding, Rohrbach said. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #12 My brother had a slantnose Porsche 911 with a racing package. He says he used to leave Laguna Niguel for Vegas at about midnight on a Friday night and be there in about 2 1/2 hours. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-18 19:45 |
| #11 We were on the Autobahn in a stick-shift Beemer early one Sunday morning (no traffic) and were gradually letting it out to see just how fast the car would go. We were at 150 (that's mph, not kph) when a Porche passed us like we were standing still. Yikes. We decided maybe 150 was fast enough. Dunno how fast that guy was going and don't want to know. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-08-18 19:30 |
| #10 Had a friend who did 165 MPH on I-10. I-10 goes through West Texas, NM , and AZ. The road is ruler straight, three lanes wide each way, with a half-mile median and goes through mile after mile of *NOTHING*. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2010-08-18 19:06 |
| #9 Mustangs have always made good roadsters, short wheelbase. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-08-18 11:54 |
| #8 I used to own a 1964 Mustang, I put a 400 HP 351 and a seriously beefed transmission under it, it would I had a 4 speed borg warner under it originaly but when I hit second really hard I broke the standard 8inch Differential and had to replace it with one from a larger car, a 9inch worked well. I rode that car untill it rusted away. Transplanted the engine/tranny and gave it to a friend. last I heard he'd restored it amd was showing it at car shows. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-08-18 11:15 |
| #7 In the article I read last week, the speed trap cameras could not catch him because they would not work past 125 mph. Some serious Doppler effect, heh. Took him something like half a kilometer to stop. Holy m v-squared, batman! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-08-18 10:09 |
| #6 So instead of wrapping an explosive vest around themselves the Euros prefer to wrap a nice Mercedes around them for thrills. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-18 09:51 |
| #5 I was on the Autobahn from Hamburg to Lubeck once with a few German friends. We were in a Mercedes 500. I was in back, conversing, when I looked at the speedometer. 260. Even being kilometer-illiterate* I knew that was faster than I ever wanted to go. My friend who was driving looked content. And focused. Very, very focused. *Thanks for that phrase, tu, I'll use that. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-08-18 09:07 |
| #4 "faulty" speedometer. Needle wrapped around to zero and started over? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-08-18 08:34 |
| #3 that car isn't a 'statement' its a declaration of war! |
| Posted by: pikestaff 2010-08-18 05:26 |
| #2 Probably just crossed the border from Germany where there are no speed limits on the Autobahns and missed the 'Welcome to Switzerland' signs. Could have happened to anyone. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-08-18 05:13 |
| #1 I want one... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-18 02:12 |