Speed cameras are a thorn in every car enthusiast’s side, and in some parts of the world, they’re everywhere. There’s just no escaping the lens of the camera, and slipping up and driving too fast usually results in a pricey ticket showing up in the mail soon afterward. But we can’t even imagine what an Italian Ford Focus driver was thinking when she opened up her mail and found a ticket alleging that she was caught driving 437 miles-per-hour in a 43 mile-per-hour zone.
According to Italian car website Autoappassionati, that’s precisely what went down in the commune of Offagna recently. What makes this story even more humorous is the fact that the local police didn’t even realize this was an error, and proceeded to issue a penalty of nearly $1,000 and 10 points on the driver’s license.
Honestly, that doesn’t seem like too bad of a penalty for going 10 times the speed limit, or even as fast as some airplanes travel. Problem is, there isn’t a Ford Focus on earth that can reach those speeds, which are typically reserved for only straight-line, dedicated high-speed racers. Top speeds of current Ford Focus models range anywhere from around 130 miles-per-hour to 165 miles-per-hour for the last RS model.
That 437 mile-per-hour jaunt would have also made the Focus the world’s fastest production car by a lot, as the current record-holding Bugatti Chiron only managed to barely crack the 300 mile-per-hour mark recently. That took around 1,500 horsepower to accomplish, which is a tad more than any production Focus has ever been sold with.
As of right now, the driver hasn’t reportedly taken any action to dispute this hilarious claim. But a spokesman for the local highway committee has apparently recommended that she accept the penalty and then appeal in an effort to receive compensation for her troubles. Personally, we’d have a hard time not getting kicked out of court for laughing profusely over this silly mistake.
We’ll have more humorous tales like this to share soon, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Focus news and around-the-clock Ford news coverage.
Comments
This is exactly how the title of this article should be written. Unlike the other site that wrote the title in a very misleading fashion.
This could be a software glitch in downloading the data from the carmera to a database. (likely going 43.7 mph) It is likely the software program they use sets up and sends out the notice without any human checking for errors. If this happened here, all tickets using that speed camera would be invalid, and the town would lose any money generated by it.
The problem really comes down to either poor programming protocols or lack of understanding of the software.