Swedish man may pay largest speeding fine ever

Just because major portions of the German Autobahn have no speed limit doesn't mean you can drive as fast as you want anywhere in Europe. Where there are posted restrictions, most European countries take speeding very seriously and levy hefty fines. The latest case in point is a 37-year-old Swedish man who was clocked at 180 miles per hour on a motorway between Bern and Lausanne in Switzerland.

Unfortunately for this driver of a new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Switzerland doesn't have fixed fines for speeding. Instead they use a formula similar to that in Finland where the fine is calculated based on the vehicle's speed and the driver's income. Back in 2002, Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki had to pay a fine of $103,600 for going 47 mph in a 31 mph zone.

In this latest incident, the driver faces a penalty of just over $1 million for traveling at the highest speed ever recorded on a public road in Switzerland. Apparently the SLS escaped being clocked by several older cameras that are limited to 125 mph before finally being recorded by a new camera with a higher radar speed range. His excuse: The speedometer was faulty.

As far as we know, this is the most expensive speeding ticket ever issued, though there are reports of a kid who last April was caught speeding in his dad's Bugatti Veyron, the punishment for which was permanent seizure of the vehicle.

[Source: The Telegraph]