British leadfoots, you've got a friend in Caroline Lister. The British Recorder in a Winchester
court let 21-year-old Nicholas Whittle off the hook after he was clocked touching 150 mph in daddy's Porsche Boxster.
90 mph over the speed limit. Without insurance.
Lister threw the case out of court, arguing Whittle "went fast for a short time only on a straight road with excellent visibility." The potentate argued that excessive speed in-and-of-itself isn't enough to be ruled dangerous driving, particularly as road conditions that day were conducive to fast driving.
Predictably, Thursday's legal ruling left British public safety groups frothing, with many commenting on Lister's general negligence and the irresponsibility of ruling. One of the groups, Brake, has promised to lodge an official complaint.
But young Whittle isn't completely inculpable in the eyes of the law... at least not yet. He still faces charges of excess speed and driving without insurance. As such, the would-be James Dean has avoided jail time, but is still looking at forfeiture of his license.
[Source: The UK Mirror]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kwyjibo @ Jan 28th 2006 7:54PM
A step in the right direction at least...
Eric L. @ Jan 28th 2006 10:37PM
Anyone asinine enough to do 150mph on public roads will surely lose out to natural selection sooner or later. I just hope its a concrete wall and not a minivan full of children.
150mph is *never* safe, unless its on a long test track.
brenden @ Jan 28th 2006 10:37PM
I hate to say this but I bet its a case of a rich kid getting off because of daddy's connections not an actual step in the right direction....
Marcello Mastroianni @ Jan 28th 2006 10:44PM
I should have fought the speeding ticket I got in Nebraska. It was a beautiful day, I had a clear shot, and there was nothing for me to run into except fields of wheat...
...and a cop car!
sr20de @ Jan 29th 2006 12:09AM
I don't care if this guy was in the right or wrong, but regardless of law- taking conditions into consideration is refreshing.
If I'm driving on I-89 in Vermont in the middle of a weekday, you damn well better believe I'm touching 100+ on a day with nice weather. No traffic, straight roads with incredible visibility- I'm only putting my own life at risk...I should be allowed to do that. If I crash and die, well, that's my own damn fault. Pragmatism and reason are missing in the United States court system these days.
cowboy bob @ Jan 29th 2006 7:14AM
I didn't know a Boxter would run 150. Are you sure????
cowboy bob, still @ Jan 29th 2006 7:17AM
I bet it really was 150 KPH. Not 150 MPH.
Richard @ Jan 29th 2006 3:21PM
Brits use miles per hour -- it's 150, as measured by vascar. The vanilla Boxster can do 159, and the S does 166 in UK trim (according to Porsche.com, a website always worth visiting).
The statement that it's "never safe" to drive 150 on public roads is undermined by the fact that this guy didn't hurt anyone or any thing. A quick top speed test on an EMPTY road with perfect conditions is not a big deal.
Eric @ Jan 30th 2006 7:36AM
#8: Your logic, like the potentate's is horribly flawed. Now, I break the speed limit laws in my area nearly 100% of the time. So I'm no better than the Boxster driver. But no more than 15mph over the limit.
This kid was 90 MILES OVER! In a 40 mph zone. That speed limit to me denotes some kind of 'residential' area. So I don't care how open anyone THINKS the road is. NO ONE is going to be able to react quick enough at that speed and avoid, say, a child chasing their ball out in the street.
Not to mention what the potentate and others attempting to mitigate the seriousness of the kid's offense fail to realize, is how long it would take to get the Boxster up to that speed. http://www.fast-autos.net/porsche/03porscheboxster.html for a quick look at the specs. 0-100 in 15.7 secs. Pretty quick. However, the closer you are to top speed, the longer it takes to notch up the speedo. I would say it probably took him WELL over 30 seconds to reach 150. That 5th gear has to be stretched out quite a bit to go that high. So for more than 25 seconds, the kid is well over the posted speed limit. The speed sign is there for a reason: safety for EVERYONE in and around that road.
Lenard @ Jan 30th 2006 9:16AM
Ok, let's do a little math 90Mph + 40MPH = 130Mph. Now a little more....150Mph (Clocked Speed) - 90Mph (rate over speed limit) = 60Mph (Speed Limit). Sounds more like a highway than residential to me.
klaatu @ Jan 30th 2006 9:54AM
The speed limit in the UK on "motorways" (expressways) is 70 mph, therefore 90 over would be 160. 150 mph would be 80 over the limit.
The website called globalautoindex.com shows the hottest new Porsche Boxter S-3.2 will go 268 km/hr, which is 167.5 mph.
Here's the REAL story though. Rich brat steals dad's Porsche Boxter, takes a joyride, wants to stay out of "Gaol" (jail), begs daddy-kins to get a fancy-dan "solicitor" (lawyer in "American-ese") to "fix it." Done. Yeah, he'll lose his "driving licence" for a few years. Too bad it isn't for life.
Charles S @ Jan 30th 2006 11:00AM
If people are allow to drive at 150 mph whenever they "feel" it's safe, then I guess anyone with a gun should be allow to shoot their guns off, as long as they can't seen anyone around.
The point is that at 150 mph, not only does it takes a lot longer to stop, the driver reaction time is reduce down to factions of a second.
Just the other night, I had a flashing yellow and the other guy had a flashing red coming to the left. I slowed down, but did not intend to stop, while the other guy NEVER stopped and just drove right through. I was inches away from T-boning him. If I was going any faster, I'd have crashed into him.
Yes, speed ALONE is not dangerous, but speed is a FACTOR. If people want to drive fast, no one can stop them. But be prepare to accept the consequences. Chances are, you're not going to be hurt, but you will probably hurt someone...
Tucker @ Feb 1st 2006 3:53PM
Um, calm down people - he didn't "get off," he was still charged with all sorts of stuff. The judge only ruled that it couldn't be considered "dangerous driving." This is identical to the case over the summer of the guy in the US who pulled down 120+ mph or something in his bike and wasn't charged with "reckless driving." Search the archives, you'll find it.
The point is, if he didn't break the conditions of that particular law, he can't be charged with it whether you like it or not.