10/31/2009
Italy: Speed Camera Accuses Motorcyclist of 383 MPH BlastItalian speed camera accused motorcyclist of impossible speed. Owner forced to pay $300 fine anyway.
According to a speed camera citation that landed in his mailbox on October 10, motorcyclist Paolo Turina blasted past a speed camera at 616km/h (383 MPH). Last month, Turina had been riding his Moto Guzzi motorcycle in the municipality of Cernusco Lombardone in Lombardy when a Telelaser Ultralyte device recorded him passing by.
The letter from the municipal police suggested that Turina had exceeded the fastest recorded MotoGP race speed of 217 MPH, set in June by Dani Pedrosa at the Mugello, Italy, by 166 MPH. Municipal police admitted the speed may have been printed on the ticket in error, but that the citation itself was valid.
"I was told that the [speed] check was carried out properly, because in the picture you see that I was going to 87km/h (54 MPH)," Turina told the Giornale di Merate newspaper. "It was probably a simple clerical error by the agent. In the end the blame for the fine was passed to me, which cost me less than five points on my license and more than 200 euros (US $296)."
Turina is keeping the ticket to use whenever he hears anyone making exaggerated claims about a motorcycle's top speed.
"I also brought it to the dealer who sold me the bike," Turina said. "They made a photocopy and hung it on the wall.