A northern suburbs driver who claimed it was his car’s fault, not
his, for excessive speeding is not the only one to blame a “fully sick”
vehicle or other bizarre circumstances for offending.
The Mill Park man, 36, told Constable Dany Carbonneau he was
travelling at 158km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Western Ring Road last
Monday at 2am because “it’s the way the car works”.
He was driving a powerful SS Commodore sedan, similar to the one
driven by the police who caught him. Police said the man nodded toward
the pursuit vehicle and said Constable Carbonneau would understand that
the power of his vehicle made him speed.
The officer impounded the car and the alleged offender will face
court, but police said it was one of many lame excuses for speeding.
Constable Carbonneau said the usual excuse offered by speedsters
was they had to go to the toilet, but he added that blaming the car for
going too fast, not because the driver had depressed the accelerator,
topped the list.
Senior Sergeant Tom Bentley, who heads the Epping highway patrol
unit, said one of the worst cases of speeding was a youth clocked at
140km/h in Plenty Road, Mill Park, who was doing a “tribute” to five
mates who had died in a speeding accident on the road.
The officer said
he caught one male whose car had left 75 metres of black tyre marks on
the road and claimed “his foot slipped off the clutch”, while many
offenders, some with smoke still burning from their car wheel arches,
say “who, me?” when asked about burn-outs.
Leading Constable Andrew Dickson said 4283 people were issued with
on-the-spot fines for speeding up to 45km/h over the limit in Hume in
2012-13. In Whittlesea, 2039 drivers were fined for speeding.
