The Eight Biggest Speeding Tickets Ever Issued

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It's not just the gas prices that are higher these days, the tickets are going up as well. Welcome to our world of extreme speeding tickets.

If you get a ticket while flying a jet, they will probably let you off. If you write rude letters to them, they probably won't. But whatever happens, remember not to go too fast in Switzerland...

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8.) $10 for being a pioneer (about $250 today)

The first man convicted of speeding was Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, who on 28 January 1896 was fined for speeding at 8 mph in a 2 mph zone. He was fined 1 shilling plus costs. Five years later, a New York City cab driver named Jacob German was arrested for speeding on May 20, 1899 for driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. He got jail time. But the first man to get an actual paper ticket was Harry Myers for going 12 mph on West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio in 1904. A hero. Today, that's about $250.

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Suggested By: SHARPSPEED, Photo Credit: JalopyJournal/Twin6

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7.) About $4,643 but it "wasn't him"

It cost $4,643. Battles has the insider story:

There's a bloke from the town I'm from, a bit of a wrong 'un in many ways, who maxed out his M3 CSL on a major local road.BBC News Link

At the time, there was a story going around locally that he was offering £5k to his staff to say that they were driving the car.

Am I allowed to say on a public forum that he's an all round arsehole?
Decent circuit racing driver, by all accounts, not that it excuses his faults.

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Suggested By: Battles, Photo Credit: estoril


6.) Blame Canada, again, for about $9,700!

Canada has a bunch of rules against reckless driving, and the maximum fine is a healthy $9,700+. Even worse, if you go too fast, you can say goodbye to your car straight away according to dustindblack:

Anytime you get clocked going 50 kph over the limit they hit you with a "street racing" ticket and impound your car and take your license. Happened to a number of people I know (none of whom were actually street racing, just driving too fast).

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Suggested By: thebigbossyboss, Photo Credit: Ian Muttoo


5.) Your $1.8 million Veyron goes bye-bye

The first Bugatti Veyron in the Netherlands ended up impounded by the police after Michel Perridon's 20-years-old son did a 100 in a 50 zone near Rotterdam. It's unclear whether he could get it back or not, but the prodigy lost his license for sure, and some euro notes must have changed hands as well.

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Suggested By: Jeremy H, Photo Credit: stanisgarage

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4.) $200,000 In Finland, Before Being Dropped

flabberboozled points out that a drop in income can be a good thing:

A little over a decade ago, a director at Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki, was fined approximately $200k for 75km in a 50km. In American-ese that's 47 in a 31mph zone. This fine was reduced by 95% though, due to a drop in income.

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Suggested By: flabberboozled, Photo Credit: roland


3.) $200,000 In Finland, After Being Raised

The same in Finland, says POD:

In this case, records showed that Jussi Salonoja, a 27-year-old heir to a northern European meatpacking empire, earned $11.5 million in 2002, which after a complex calculation by the courts resulted in the world-record fine of about $200,000. And all that for driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone.

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Suggested By: POD, Photo Credit: timo_w2s


2.) The Swiss are better with $290,000

If you're a millionaire driving through a Swiss village with you Ferrari Testarossa doing 85mph, that's a $290,000 fine.

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Suggested By: rb1971 - black 1M, black M roadster inka E9 with S38 & 66 conti, Photo Credit: Damors

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1.) About $1 Million Dollars

A black SLS at 186 mph in Switzerland equals a million dollar fine. As simple as that. Also, you could get a well sorted 300SL for that money.

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Suggested By: DennyCraneDennyCraneDennyCrane, Photo Credit: Daviel Stosca

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Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

Top Photo Credit: danielemccabe and Bugatti