Tabarnouche! French-Canadian journalist loses his license for speeding
An automotive journalist in the Canadian province of Quebec was caught driving 222 km/h (approximately 138 mph) on a public road early Monday morning. Philippe Laguë was testing the Dodge Charger SRT-8 on highway 132 in Longueuil, near Montreal, and faces a fine of $958 CDN ($845 US) , plus 15 demerit points on his license – enough to have it suspended. Maudite!
Laguë claims he's not the only journalist who performs high-speed testing on public roads in Quebec, and that while car manufacturers advise journalists to watch out for police, they often prevent them from testing on closed tracks. He admits that he was driving too fast and obviously made an error in judgement. (Uh, no kidding.) He also says he's going to ask the Quebec provincial police (Sûreté du Québec) to investigate how the information on his arrest was leaked to the press.
Quebec has some great driving roads and many are tempted to push the limit. (Claiming you were rushing home to watch the hockey game doesn't always work.) Needless to say, losing your license, for an automotive journalist especially, poses an even bigger problem than usual. But as the saying goes, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime."
Merci pour le tip, Raoul!
[Source: La Presse – for translated version click here]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Corey W. 6:05PM (10/12/2006)
"...and that while car manufacturers advise journalists to watch out for police, they often prevent them from testing on closed tracks."
HUH?!?!?!
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Corey 6:23PM (10/12/2006)
Just another grammar issue, Corey W.
Since car manufacturers prevent journalists from testing on closed tracks, they advise them to watch out for police.
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Nick Aziz 6:27PM (10/12/2006)
It's called a radar detector.
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DKB_SATX 6:54PM (10/12/2006)
re: 3. It's called a radar detector.
Hehe... well, at 138 mph, your radar detector isn't going to give you enough warning to help you much... you'll just get caught in a panic deceleration at 115 instead of 138...
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Stéphane Dumas 7:31PM (10/12/2006)
there another link in French about him at http://www4.autonet.ca/FR/Nouvelles/article.php?file=/Nouvelles/JDM/2006/10/12/2008386.html
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epp_b 7:39PM (10/12/2006)
["It's called a radar detector."]
...which is illegal to possess in most areas of Canada.
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Mathieu 7:44PM (10/12/2006)
Acutally radar detectors are illegal here in Quebec. Nevertheless he went way too fast on a public road.
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Patrick Perron 8:40PM (10/12/2006)
Last year, M. Lague was on TV blasting fellow auto-journalists for being sell-outs to automakers ...
How does driving at 222 on a public road instead of on a closed track at an automaker's request fit into his principles?
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Corey W. 9:33PM (10/12/2006)
Corey, thanks.. I knew what he meant, it just seemed strange, you would think car manufactures would endorse journalist testing in a more control environment. What best way to get your car some attention, then to let some journalist go at it on a closed course.
BTW: Nice name!! ;-)
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Bob Zeliff 10:11PM (10/12/2006)
So he got caught. He was having a great time in a great car. If you drive around Montreal, you will find some drivers doing over 160kmh almost routinely. The Canadians in general have a more Eurpean perspective of speed than we do in the US,..but don't get caught drive drunk there!
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Rock 10:27PM (10/12/2006)
He was speeding, got busted. Where's the story?
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Anubis 10:52PM (10/12/2006)
There's no story, really. He did something illegal, and he has to face the repurcussions that follow his ill-concieved act. However, you would think that when one's livelihood rests upon his ability to drive, he would think twice about risking it for the sake of pushing an envelope that doesn't need to be pushed.
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MikeW 12:14AM (10/13/2006)
0-222kph takes less than 1km from a stop. Cops need to put things into perspective.
It is not like he was at top speed.
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Cars 2:23AM (10/13/2006)
Whoever break the law must be punished, whether he is a journalist or anyone else. Flate roads doesn't means that you drive fast. there are many other safe modes to thrill.
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James 5:10AM (10/13/2006)
After a year in and around Montréal, I'm surprised he managed to find a road in good enough condition to achieve 222km/h... the sub-zero winters take their toll, and les cols bleus never seem to be in too much of a rush to fill in those monstrous pot holes...
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Kowell 8:31AM (10/13/2006)
"After a year in and around Montréal, I'm surprised he managed to find a road in good enough condition to achieve 222km/h... the sub-zero winters take their toll, and les cols bleus never seem to be in too much of a rush to fill in those monstrous pot holes..."
Well...yes and no... Quebec's roads are amongst the uglyest ones I'll give you that.. pothole are a religion here.... but there is also one of the highest highway per citizen concentration in north america (Montreal excluded) so there is a lot of nice highways to speed on and it easily gets tempting
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Kenneth 8:55AM (10/13/2006)
MikeW: It may "only" take less than a mile to reach 222 km/h from a stop, but it'll probably take half a mile to stop that big heavy lump again. And don't even start on how he would be doing, if he was forced to take evasive action, such as making a swerve to avoid another road-user, while going at +200 speeds.
I like going fast as much as the next guy, but on public roads you just have to think - not everybody expects the car in the rear-view mirror to close up on them at 70 m/s (200ft/s?).
Clearly irresponsible and just plain stupid behavior, by someone who probably also acts as a spokesperson for automofiles and the car people in general.
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Mike 10:18AM (10/13/2006)
I live in Montreal, and I would seriously like to dispute the comment made about Quebec having some "great driving roads"! I mean, if they are referring to scenic routes, I agree, but besides that, the road conditions in Quebec are generally is piss-poor shape!!
Besides the pot holes that you find everywhere, we even have manholes on highways!! And no, they are not always level with the road!
It's funny how the weather is always being blamed for the poor state of the roads, but for some strange reason, Vermont doesn't seem to have these problems!
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tilley 11:41AM (10/13/2006)
Dead-on Mike (#18). Weather is no real excuse. Yes winters are bad, but cross the border into nearby northern VT, NY or eastern Ontario and you think you're suddenly airborne it's so smooth.
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PiCASSO 12:18PM (10/13/2006)
Top speeds:
http://uk.e39.de/
There are a few postings for Canada and United States.
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