The AP reported today that Briton Tim Brady will be jailed for 10 weeks as a result of his conviction for speeding in a 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo – at 276 KM/hour (172 MPH). The record set by Brady for highest recorded speed on a British motorway beats the old record of 251 KM/hour set by car dealer Jason McAllister in 2003.

Judge David Morton called the act “criminally self-indulgent.”

“[You were] utterly thoughtless of the danger you might be creating for the innocent,” he told Brady.

Our thoughts are that while public safety is always a concern in motoring, it is all too simple to continually spotlight speeding, especially when government is so slow to improve road conditions, drivers training, and general car safety, including active and passive safety systems.

The fact that the driver in this case was – for a time – able to safely navigate road at such high speed to should be a testament to the quality of the Porsche 911. It is the same “need for speed” that effectively serves as a launch pad for improved vehicle performance and safety design.

As for the punishment, 2 months does seem excessive, and 3 years seems questionable, especially when the judge himself points out the questionable nature of speed laws in general when he points out that the convicted driver “might” have posed a public danger. As we know, this is a slippery slope. When we start to enforce laws created on the mere possibility of harm to people or property, we should begin to worry. Do we arrest Arabs or rednecks because they might be terrorists? Absolutely not.

Then again, what else can you expect from the world’s richest nanny state?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 4:13 am and is filed under Legal, Politics, Porsche, pollution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post was read by 801 people until now. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.