It’s been another week of idiots on the road, but there is one common thread with the two biggest losers: they were both busted at warp speed in humdrum hatchbacks.
An old Holden Barina and a Hyundai i30 hatchback – not Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis or Subaru WRXs – have clocked some of the biggest speeds detected by the NSW Police highway patrol in the past week.
A 23-year-old male driver from South Australia was detected by Deniliquin Highway Patrol last weekend pushing his Holden Barina to 162km/h on a 100km/h stretch of the remote Riverina Highway in the state’s far west.
When stopped by police, the driver initially showed signs of remorse when he told the highway patrol officer: “No excuse I can give you will be enough.”
However, the driver’s attitude appeared to change once he was issued a $2547 speeding ticket and lost his NSW driving privileges for six months from the date of the offence – and was not allowed to drive his car from the remote location.
“Wow, that’s cheap,” the man reportedly told police, according to a post on the NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Facebook page.
Unfortunately, the vehicle’s registration plates were not able to be confiscated because the Holden Barina was registered interstate, but the driver was not allowed to get behind the wheel again, and needed to enlist help from a licenced driver.
Meantime, in the early morning hours of Saturday 30 July 2022, Macarthur Highway Patrol in metropolitan Sydney’s south-western fringe detected a Hyundai i30 hatchback travelling at 166km/h in a 60km/h zone – more than 100km/h higher than posted speed limit.
The driver reportedly told police he was “running late for work,” according to a post on the NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Facebook page.
“The driver has been charged with ‘Drive Speed/Manner Dangerous’ and ‘Exceed Speed Limit – Over 45km/h’ and is due to appear in Campbelltown Local Court in September 2022,” the NSW Police said on Facebook.
“The driver had his NSW licence suspended on the spot for a period of six months, and the registration plates from his car were removed and confiscated for a period of three months, with the driver organising a tow truck to get his car home.”
Police also helpfully pointed out that at 166km/h, a vehicle travels at 46.111 metres per second. Or put another way, almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool per second.
The post Holden Barina driver busted at 162km/h. Also, a Holden Barina can do 162km/h appeared first on Drive.