Porsche Driver arrested for 150mph. Judge dismisses case!

[pastmaster]

27 January 2006
NOT DANGEROUS DRIVING: 21-YEAR-OLD DOING 150MPH IN DAD'S PORSCHE
By Richard Smith And Allison Martin
A YOUNG driver clocked by police doing nearly 150mph in his dad's Porsche yesterday escaped jail after a judge ruled that his speeding was not dangerous.

Carpenter Nicholas Whittle, 21 - driving with no insurance - sped past a patrol car doing more than double the 60mph limit while overtaking.

The Vascar speeding device in the police Skoda registered the blue Y-reg Boxster travelling at 149.9mph over a distance of 0.227 miles.

But Recorder Caroline Lister threw the case out, saying: "He went fast for a short time only on a straight road with excellent visibility.

"I have to rule whether speed alone can be the basis of a dangerous driving case. I reach the conclusion that it cannot."

But road safety campaigners blasted her decision. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "If driving at 150mph isn't dangerous driving we don't know what is."


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Head of road safety Kevin Clinton said: "If he'd have had an accident at that sort of speed it would almost certainly have been fatal for him or anyone else involved."


Road charity group Brake went one step further, saying it would be putting in an official complaint about the ruling.


"Our jaws dropped at this case," said chief executive Mary Williams. "It has got to be one of the most horrendous speeding cases ever."


Winchester crown court heard Whittle was caught speeding on the "clear and unhampered" A3055 near his home on the Isle of Wight just before 9pm last May 27.


Speaking outside court, Whittle, of Totland, who was with his father Colin, 56, said: "I was really pleased with the outcome.


It's been very stressful leading up to the case." However, he will now face other charges of driving with excess speed and driving without insurance and could still lose his licence.


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There goes 1 lucky chap, if the other charges don't convict him.

 

[vairox]

where was this? certainly not in the USA... he would have been shot by the officer on the spot

 

[2Fast4U]

Not dangerous but he "sped past a patrol car." So this safe driver was even passing at least 1 vehicles. Hilarious. Who decides when I judge can be removed from the bench or is this only upon re-election?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

A couple of my friends were drag racing some guy at a stop light. The cop clocked them at "98MPH" from the opposite direction. He said his radar locked at that speed as he did a U turn to chase after thembut the cop admitted, albeit VERY angrily, that they were doing at least 140MPH. The ONLY reason, the cop shouted, that he only wrote my two friends a warning, was because they obeyed his sirens and cue to pull over.

The other guy never looked back.

They learned their lesson. They were shaking, literally.

 

[eljefino]

I like it. They're prosecuting the guy for exactly what he did wrong, and the judge dismissed the part of the case that didn't make sense under the law.

Obviously he's in a jurisdiction where the law makes sense and most people can respect it as enforced. Naturally I hope the penalty for "driving with excess speed" is adequately brutal.

 

[Shannow]

They did that downunder.

A rich, high profile dude was booked doing over 100MPH in a 65MPH zone in his Bentley Mulsane Turbo. Normally that would be a big fine and probably loss of licence.

Instead of booking him for speeding, they charged him dangerous driving.

The defence liars (I mean lawyers) "proved" in court that the vehicle was designed for such speeds on similar roads in Europe, and that the activity was therefore not dangerous.

 

[robbobster]

quote:

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Head of road safety Kevin Clinton said: "If he'd have had an accident at that sort of speed it would almost certainly have been fatal for him or anyone else involved."

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And if he'd have hit another car head-on while obeying the speed limit, he could have been killed also.

Laws that cover any potential "what if" scenario would relegate all of us to the house, never to venture outside because of what might happen...

Speed doesn't kill.
Sudden, rapid deceleration kills.

 

[simple_gifts]

quote:

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Speed doesn't kill.

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Really, ever been hit by a car?

 

[windnsea00]

quote:

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where was this? certainly not in the USA... he would have been shot by the officer on the spot

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Haha, that cracked me up! Speaking of this I have a a $396 speeding ticket to pay off soon

 

[vairox]

quote:

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Haha, that cracked me up! Speaking of this I have a a $396 speeding ticket to pay off soon

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windnsea in la jolla, sweet place... i got a $210 one for speeding in downtown san diego, was coming back from city college and going up C street toward golden hill, you know...the street that goes up hill then level then uphill? you can catch nice air if going fast enough, speed limit was 35 i was doing 55... cop jumped out from behind a car (motorcycle cop) if he wasnt reaching for his gun i woulda ran him over, thought he was just a bum flagging me down haha... i went to an online traffic school, done in 10 mins, took it off my record (not really but you know what i mean) might wanna try that...

 

[chas3]

in virginia, 20 mph over the posted speed limit (or above 80 mph regardless) is prima facie for reckless driving, a class 1 misdemeanor.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-862

 

[pastmaster]

This incident happened on the Isle of Wight, which is in Great Britain or United Kingdom, that's what the U.K., represents.

The Police, and the VASCAR, were in a SKODA, for crying out loud! CHEERIO MATES...

 

[Korean_redneck]

quote:

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in virginia, 20 mph over the posted speed limit (or above 80 mph regardless) is prima facie for reckless driving, a class 1 misdemeanor.

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Yep.... I-64, I-264....... Many of my idiot friends went to jail.. EVen though the speed limit is 55,, cruising at 65 is safe and you won't get ticketed. If you go 55, you will get flashed and beat up by other cars!!

 

[mechtech]

He was speeding, for sure, but dangerous driving is another subject.

 

[JohnnyO]

My kind of judge.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

well put robbobster

For reckless driving one goes to court. If the verdict should be "automatic" would that be court, or would that be reckless despotism? Why going to court then, just jail people promptly.

Courts shall evaluate the conditions, the losses; and in this case no charges for no losses that didn't caused by the driver. Courts usually don't charge people for the matters that had no occurence. Regular traffic enforcement applies, speeding is still subject to fines... but the ambiguity of the event makes a nice pop-news.

Fair IMHO.

 

[wander2039]

Must have been in san franciso. They tend to get away with everything in that city.

 

[robbobster]

quote:

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Really, ever been hit by a car?

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Nope.
Even so, the rapid acceleration of your body kills you.

If speed alone kills, then how do you explain, oh, travelling in an airplane?

Astronauts travelling 17,000 mph aren't instantly killed.

I stand by my statement, "Speed doesn't kill"
But I will revise it slightly, "Sudden, rapid acceleration/deceleration kills"

 

[oily boyd]

If I ever get caught speeding in the UK, I want that judge.

"Your honor, the officer did observe me traveling 150 mph; he then stopped me for 30 minutes. That makes my AVERAGE speed for the observed time period well below the legal limit... Why am I here, again??"

 

[stringsattached]

When I was in highschool, I was coming home from a friend's house one night, and had to be doing over 100mph in my mom's car along a stretch of fairly empty (at that time of the night) highway. I got pulled over, told the cop that I was in a hurry because I was late getting home, and he let me go with a warning! He even wrote something like "80 in a 65mph zone" on the ticket. [The only traffic ticket of any kind I have ever had in my entire life then or since.] True story.

I don't think the judge was nuts, but I do have to say that I am surprised at how it all turned out. In my state, driving without insurance is a big, illegal no-no, and he would have had the book thrown at him. I guess the laws aren't the same over there?