165mph in a hire car on Merseyside

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-23524736

 

Being someone who enjoys a bit of speed I can't say I wouldn't do the same if I had a motorway and a semi-supercar.

 

Some of us have more restraint than others I guess...

But I doubt you'd say "just try and stop me from driving" after being told by the judge he was taking your licence off you for three years.

 

Nothing drives like a hire car.

 

It's 2013 and he was driving what looks to be an Audi R8. 165mph at 5am in the morning on a motorway isn't really the crime of the century or beyond the capabilities of the car/driver.

 

Where on earth hires cars out like that to a 24yr old?

 

o

I agree.
I think 165mph at 5am on an empty motorway is safer than doing 40mph in a 30 zone.

 

offence was 2 years ago why has it taken so long to ban this moron?

 

Codswallop.

 

I was wondering the same. He should have been in court the same week. I suspect he hired a good legal team who delayed matters.

It is a matter of opinion but I really don't share the same views as some of the above comments, 165mph is really shifting and nearly 100mph over the speed limit. It is not like that guy just booted it for a few minutes, he opened the car up and drove recklessly over a long distance.

It's absolutely outrageous in my opinion. No driver on our roads is in control of a car at that speed despite what they may feel when they're cosseted by a modern car's smoothness and refinement.

How would you feel if that clown flew past a member of your family at that speed? Passing within a few feet of another car at those speeds leaves little margin for even the slightest error.

Depending on reaction times the stopping distance at that speed in the best cars out there is 350-400 metres.

 

'Defended' himself. He didn't drive recklessly. He didn't pass any vehicles at that speed. 5am on a deserted motorway, punishment doesn't fit the crime IMO.

What if someone does 50 in a 30 and knocks someone over? What would the proportional punishment be?

The ban is so ludicrously long compared to the offence that it is no wonder he feels he has no choice but to drive. 6 months would have been quite sufficient.

 

They tend to come down on them very hard indeed.

I'm absolutely amazed people can sympathise with someone doing that kind of speed. As I said it's not like he just blasted it up to that speed once, he carried on at that speed over a considerable distance.

Anyway, 40mph or even 50mph in a 30 zone doesn't compare to the speeds he was doing. Percentage-wise 165mph on a motorway is equivalent to doing 71mph in a 30 zone.

 

OK so you think 165mph is outrageous etc. etc.

What speed over the limit is OK in your eyes then?

Or do you never exceed the speed limit?

 

it would appear he recently bought and watched the boxed set of "The Fast and Furious"

 

I try to stick to it as best I can to be honest. Sometimes I exercise discretion but having had a kid run out on me a few years ago I know why that 30 zone is there.

For me I find it difficult to stick to low speeds on wide urban dual carriageways without constantly looking at the signs or having a speed limit warning thing. It is only natural in a high power car to constantly creep faster and faster in that situation.

Thought I'd accidentally sped (and got caught) in a 50 zone recently but found out since that it is a 70 limit in the bit I was going. Ironically on Merseyside too, it is in an area where the speed limit keeps changing from 40 to 70 back to 50 then 70 again (not helpful for anyone that) but I was driving to the conditions.

On the Motorway I'd have said around 80mph was the upper safe limit in reasonably heavy traffic, 90mph in light traffic and somewhere around 100mph if clear as above.

Do I do 100mph or over myself? Not at all, for three reasons -

1. It is not worth getting caught at that speed. The repercussions for me financially and socially would be terrible.

2. I would hate to suffer some kind of mechanical failure at that speed and the knock on damage to my car e.g. a blowout or to hit a large pothole.

3. I've personally treated someone who had an accident at around 110mph in a Vauxhall Astra when their car clipped the inside kerb of the M61 following a blowout. He had been driving in the outside lane and was wearing a seatbelt, which is why he survived but he was very badly messed up.

Edit: For the record I rarely go above 80.

 

The difference being that in my example someone was actually harmed. And 30mph are often there for a reason whereas motorway limits are not related to features of the road.

 

Maybe this guy was just familiarising himself with his hire car and should have been let off??? after all a precedent has been set.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-speeding.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...eed-crash.html

 

You think motorways are designed to be taken at twice the speed limit?

 

165mph!!!

Is that all lol.

5am deserted motorway, there's no biggie IMHO.

He didn't pass anyone and even if he did as long as they all stayed in lane and used their mirrors then nobody is in harms way.

I've had some idiot pull out on me as i was about to overtake at a GPS indicated 151mph. That's when I thanked got I went for 6 pots ;-)

Oh and this was on the Autobahn in Germany.

Some if you guys are making out like driving at such a speed is neigh on impossible. It's not. Many people have done so and many people have done more. Well, a lot of bikers have anyway.

Furthermore if you had an exotic hire car and you don't go for a 'run' then frankly you are a lentil eating whoose and you should join mumsnet.

 

 

I do think the penalty is very harsh, empty motorway, early in the morning. NO crash, no one injured, or harmed. Yes he should be banned but anything more than 1.5 years is too excessive in my eyes.
Ok not helped himself with the try and stop me driving statement, but I guess this will have been after been giving the penalty.
The car is more than capable of that speed, (was surprised as I thought that the R8 was restricted to 155mph) we have no idea if the driver is someone that has experienced those kind of speeds on autobahn etc.
If watch the video clip on the BBC - in the linked from the op, his driving in not erratic, road position is ok. Coming off the motorway was a bit bad but I've seen much worse in normal daily driving.
Usual BS from the brake representative on the clip. I've honestly seen recently police driving much worse than this !

Richard

 

I can't believe people here are actually sympathetic to someone who's been caught doing 2.5x the speed limit, doing F1-style speed on a public road.

Even if there was no-one else on the road, it's the emergency services that have to pick up the pieces if he ran out of luck/skill.

 

Just for the 'just try and stop me from driving' I would have given the **** head a sentence, *****..

 

But he didn't run out of luck/skill.

At the end of the day, lots of things could have happened, But actually, all that's happened is someone was doing 165mph (well it says up to 165, so I imagine it wasn't 165mph mile after mile) with no implications to anyone else.
The law is the law, no argument there. But its really not the end of the world is it.

 

No-one WILL stop him driving.

Round our way, there are about ten Asian blokes per real license........

 

I ******* *hate* those smug Brake! *****

 

I've been driven at the same speed on a local A road. I bricked myself and swore a lot.

 

Round our way the white guys fill up £2 a shot at the petrol station, then spend over a fiver on ****. In fact round out way the white kids are never going to better themselves out of beaten up Astras, Corsas and associated hanger crap.

Nice bit if generalisation there.

 

Its his unrepentant attitude that is the main problem here & the complete disregard for the law of the land.

such vermin need to be severely dealt with.

 

165mph? nothing... check this out:


200mph on the A1. you must know this guy if you're into jap cars?

Bet its making your blood boil huh?