231 kmh = 6 Months Jail.

[Esses]

Don't know if this has made the news much elsewhere, but as it was near here it's been front-page stuff. A Sydney businessman was booked on the Hume near Collector at 231 kmh in a 110 zone in his Bentley Continental. He was sentenced yesterday to 6 months jail plus 12 months loss of license. He's appealed & is on bail.

This guy has 20-odd driving offences (most for speeding) since 1990, including 6 in 1 year in Qld. His excuse was that his Wife had a tummy-bug & he was hurrying to their Hotel to get her a Doctor so they could attend the post-budget Dinner hosted by the PM. Other drivers started reporting him from Marulan on, TRUCKIES were warning the Cops by CB at the same time & when the radar got him the cops stated that he was HARD on the brakes. The Bentley is apparently capable of 340 kmh so who knows what he was doing, really.

As I have kids & our humble EF Falcon or soon-to-be Kia Carnival wouldn't stand a snowflakes chance in a collision of that magnitude, my feeling is that the penalty is fair enough. He'll probably get off on appeal anyway, though I hope he doesn't. His Lawyer tried the approach of: "Given the advanced features of the Bentley, if you are going to speed then this is the car to do it in....." & the Magistrate replied with: "That's fine for him but what about the car he hits?".

What's your feeling?

[TBVX05]

He should lose his licence for life!

[awawaw]

what a dickhead. i cant find the words to decribe someone like that. they just dont have a clue do they.

[Martin Thomas]

I can't remember which country it was (Sweden, I think) they actually fine you a pecentage of your annual income. In the news a while back some executive (Nokia, I think) was done on his Harley and recieved a world record fine... (Hundreds of thousands of $'s, I think).
This is a great idea, should be done in Oz..... I think..:D

[james]

Rather silly thing to do,however i can do this speed at any time i like and not get booked.:D

[texan]

Definitely jail!

Any car changing lanes suddenly, and he hits them with a closing speed of 120km/h, not to mention any other sort of obstacle which may be stationary. No matter how good the car or driver, that's no different to firing a gun down the street with your eyes closed and hoping no one gets hit.

Considering his record, his licence should also be cancelled for life.

[toad]

Its arrogant behaviour. I hope the jail term brings him down to earth.

I wonder if he is a high profile person we would recognise?

[Nick Short]

What's the list price of the Bentley in Oz? Gives some indication of his income, but if he's fined the same as you or me then it's no more than a slap on the wrist. I think a very long ban is in order, and would be more of a punishment, but a) it ain't going to happen, and b) he would hire a chauffeur anyway. I despise those who think their position makes them able to do what they want. But even in the Northern Territory it would be a stupid thing to do....

[Esses]

Originally posted by toad
Its arrogant behaviour. I hope the jail term brings him down to earth.

I wonder if he is a high profile person we would recognise?

He is a CEO, but not of a major corp. I'd not heard his name before, but even the criminal conviction will be a blow as it'll hamper his ability to travel & do business. As will jail!:D

[wayno]

Idiot. Deserves everything he gets and more in my opinion.

[biante1921]

About 5-6 years ago a bloke by the name of John Singleton was caught doin about 200kph in his Bentley on the Hume h'way can't exactly remember where but he was travelling between Sydney & Canberra.Took the matter to court with a top notch QC who argued because the car was capable of doin this speed & was built to safety standards to do high speeds the judge ruled in favour of Singo & charges dropped.I think he was fined from memory.Would of really hurt Singo's pocket.
So as usual the almighty dollar won again as probablly will be the case with this bloke.

[GRPIII]

at around the time as the singo incident i was done for the same speed on the m4, 171 in a 90 zone at 12.01 on the 23rd of dec 1 min into double dermits holiday period, i wasnt doing 171 but 140 cause had the cruise control set but thats another story.
my solictor used the similar lines & even brought up the john singleton incident but the judge didnt give a rats arse.
im sure te clubsport can cruise at supposed speeds of 170 just as good as the bently but all it comes down to is different rules for different people, how many times do you hear of a celebrity or well know person getting let off.
that swimmer suzie maronny is one, shes drives around pissed gets done & gets let off, thens theres the pencil dudes son, faber-castle 190 on the f3 in daddys bimmer on his p's gets a piddly little fine, which has since been reviewed.
there was some high profile chick in sydney done for dui but let off because of the public humiltaion.
different rules for different people.
it sucks but thats life.

[terrine]

Originally posted by Steve
He is a CEO, but not of a major corp. I'd not heard his name before, but even the criminal conviction will be a blow as it'll hamper his ability to travel & do business. As will jail!:D

he is the CEO of an publicly listed innovative medical solutions company known previously as unitract. they developed the retractable syringe, a major plus for both health carers and the public at large in these days of blood transmitable deadly diseases. whilst the company languishes in the preproduction shareprice wilderness it is still capitalised around $70m.
annual global syringe sales are estimated at $3b per annum and growing at 20% per annum, production is expected 06.

the BOD (board of directors will take no action till after his appeal is heard, but they appear sympathetic)

after that write up like that UNI doesnt sound too bad, but remember, dont speed on the way to the brokers

r/peter

[rex555]

Anita Keating got busted a few years ago. Excessive speed for the conditions (70+kph in a 40 school zone?) Used the old 'I can't lose my licence 'cos I need to drive the kids to school'. Managed to keep her licence when any one of us would have been rightly deprived of our driving privelages for a very long time.

The stupid thing with losing your licence is that it is only the honest people who have probably only made a genuine mistake that are penalized. How many times do you hear of people caught driving while disqualified? And they are only the ones who are caught.

[Nick Short]

In the UK those caught driving while disqualified usually get a fine and a further disqualification. Given that non-payment of fines is not chased up and such people don't regard a ban as something to worry about, it's hardly a punishment. Same with people caught driving without a license - they get their non-existent license endorsed with penalty points (?) and if they accrue 12 points they lose their non-existent license (?). A prolific car thief was caught many times from the age of 10 onwards, and received license endorsements and even loss of license each time, which considering he wasn't eligible for one until he was 17 (and didn't care anyway) was no punishment at all.
The UK also has a history of letting off prominent people - the list is endless, but usually the same sorts of things as in Oz. Social embarrassment means they couldn't possibly lose their license, being an intelligent businessman means that prison might bring on suicidal depression, the defendant went to the same top school as the judge and so couldn't possibly be guilty (a famous pedophile case some years ago), important charity work should counter a drink driving charge etc. And what about the McGee case in South Australia? Top barrister, drink driving and speeding, hits and kills a cyclist and flees. Police take 6 hours to arrest him (as officers didn't want to), "negotiate" where he might like to meet them to avoid embarrassment, make personal calls to his mobile, don't bother breath testing him even though he stank of booze, don't call vital witnesses in court, allow spurious claims of psychiatric conditions to stand (even though he had none), and he gets a fine of about a week's pay plus a ban.

[wayno]

Don't you just love the way our legal system ensures freedom and justice for all! :mad:

[Nick Short]

I want to know who has voted that the idiot in the Bentley get a V8 license!

[296kw]

I suppose if he had a head on with another vehicle doing 110k, what difference would it make to the outcome, none I suspect. Even if he rear ended someone who cut in front of him I doubt if the outcome would be much different. Check the specs on the 200 -0 braking ability of this car compared to a standard falcon/commodore.

[clubsport]

Did you know that Mcgee used to work for the Police department as a prosucutor and was also a former Police officer!

[TBVX05]

Originally posted by 296kw
I suppose if he had a head on with another vehicle doing 110k, what difference would it make to the outcome, none I suspect. Even if he rear ended someone who cut in front of him I doubt if the outcome would be much different. Check the specs on the 200 -0 braking ability of this car compared to a standard falcon/commodore.


What? :confused:

What about the damage to the other vehicle / people!? Stuff him!

[Nick Short]

Best brakes in the world don't matter if you're driving criminally on public roads. And that's even assuming the driver doesn't have the reaction time of a sloth.

[296kw]

A head on with 2 cars doing 110k=terminal impact speed of 220k, cant see how it would make any difference to the damage, how is it that in europe you can in places go as fast as you like. speed isnt the killer, its inexperience and inattention that kill. I suppose I have a beef with this as every day on the southern motrway i see a moron on a bike travelling on the white line between 2 lanes of traffic crawling at 20k, while he whips up at about 80k, I have seen this clown nearly knocked of three times in the last month and he abuses the car driver, so some poor person will no doubt take this guy out and have to live with it.
Without knowing all the circumstances of this offence such as time of day and traffic conditions it is difficult to make a sound judgement as to his degree of irresponsibilty.

[Nick Short]

231 is his level of irresponsibility! In parts of Europe (and not many places, even in Germany) there is no speed limit, but where there is one, and everyone is driving accordingly, to do two and a half times the limit is stupid. Even in Germany it is increasingly seen as arrogant and irresponsible to take your tarted-up Benz, BMW or Porsche to silly speeds on the autobahn. And when accidents happen (and they do, inevitably) the aftermath looks like a plane crash. As Win Percy found out, even racing cars have blowouts at speed, and as Gilles Villeneuve found out, even racing drivers have lapses of concentration or errors of judgement. If your only qualification for driving at speed is having deep enough pockets to buy a fast car then it doesn't matter what your speedo will go up to - I don't want to share a road with you.
And you're talking about a head-on being the only form of possible accident. How about trying to stop when something unexpected happens ahead? Big difference between 90 or 110, and 231.

[rex555]

Having driven in Germany I can honestly say that it is the level of training that they have that makes all the differance. Even the worst drivers that I came across (German, not those from other countries) make 'good' Aussie drivers look poor. Lane discipline, driving to the conditions, courtesy, use of indicators, planning ahead, all things that are becoming increasingly rare on Australian roads. I found driving on the wrong side of the road, with car controls in the 'wrong' place and not knowing where I was going, while driving at speeds well in excess of the Aussie highway limits far more relaxing that a simple trip to the shops can be in Adelaide. All due to driver attitude and training.

All that said, if you are driving far in excess of the posted limit on roads being used by other people of limited driving ability then you are a meance you yourself and society. What we NEED are driver education programes like those in Germany.

[296kw]

Nick, please reread my 2nd reply. I am simply pointing out that contrary to what the powers at be lead us to believe that speed is the killer, it isnt, its speed coupled with inexperience and inattention. If we take the logical conclusion we should all stay still and that way no-one will hit anything. and yes at extremely high speeds anything can go wrong and people should consider that before getting to carried away...

[awawaw]

Originally posted by Nick Short
231 is his level of irresponsibility! In parts of Europe (and not many places, even in Germany) there is no speed limit, but where there is one, and everyone is driving accordingly, to do two and a half times the limit is stupid. Even in Germany it is increasingly seen as arrogant and irresponsible to take your tarted-up Benz, BMW or Porsche to silly speeds on the autobahn. And when accidents happen (and they do, inevitably) the aftermath looks like a plane crash. As Win Percy found out, even racing cars have blowouts at speed, and as Gilles Villeneuve found out, even racing drivers have lapses of concentration or errors of judgement. If your only qualification for driving at speed is having deep enough pockets to buy a fast car then it doesn't matter what your speedo will go up to - I don't want to share a road with you.
And you're talking about a head-on being the only form of possible accident. How about trying to stop when something unexpected happens ahead? Big difference between 90 or 110, and 231.

what he said was well said

[296kw]

If your only qualification for driving at speed is having deep enough pockets to buy a fast car then it doesn't matter what your speedo will go up to - I don't want to share a road with you.

That statement is the exact reason I dont use excessive speed as I am too damn scared of the idiot that may be coming around the next corner. I'm not disagreeing with what you say, just pointing out that speed in itself is not the ogre we are led to believe.

[singer]

This IRISH IRRESPONSIBLE Dickhead was Headhunted to be CEO. :mad:

Steve has already outlined his licence infringements, 20 in all & most were for SPEEDING.

HE should have been thrown in jail a VERY long time ago bar the expensive Legal representation he has had.

Perhaps, then alot of alarmed people as well as truckies wouldn't have alerted the police.

I mioght add that he was braking heavily when clocked at 231kph

Perhaps after his time in GOAL, the immigration authorities will deport him:mad:

[Leigh]

Originally posted by 296kw
A head on with 2 cars doing 110k=terminal impact speed of 220k, cant see how it would make any difference to the damage, how is it that in europe you can in places go as fast as you like. speed isnt the killer, its inexperience and inattention that kill. I suppose I have a beef with this as every day on the southern motrway i see a moron on a bike travelling on the white line between 2 lanes of traffic crawling at 20k, while he whips up at about 80k, I have seen this clown nearly knocked of three times in the last month and he abuses the car driver, so some poor person will no doubt take this guy out and have to live with it.
Without knowing all the circumstances of this offence such as time of day and traffic conditions it is difficult to make a sound judgement as to his degree of irresponsibilty.
You raise four issues that detract from your arguement...

1) If a head on by two cars at 110 is 220...then a head on between 231 and 110 is 341! So an extra 120 won't make any difference? momentum is the product of mass and velocity...this means the Bentley has TWICE the momentum at 231 than at 120! Care to tell me what impact velocity the crumple zones are designed for?

2) Interesting that you raise other countries, where high speed roads are built a lot better, curves are designed for high speed, on ramps have long merging lanes, drivers are trained, and most of all OTHER DRIVERS ARE EXPECTING IT!

3) You are correct in saying that speed is not a killer...for the normal accidents anyway...but merely a contributor. But at these speeds it would be difficult to carry this argument.

4) At 110km/h the Continental takes 50 metres to stop in around 3 seconds. Deceleration can be calculated at 36 km/h per second...from 231km/h to 0 in 6.5 seconds... AND 630m...add onto this the reaction time (AVERAGE is 2 seconds or 128m travelling at 231 km/h),...and that braking deceleration is slower at higher speeds...he'd need to be able to see a distance of nearly 1 km in front of him...this ignores objects entering from the side (emu's, kangaroos) that surprisingly other countries don't have etc etc etc

And my entire argument is based on 231km/h...NOT the speed this fellow was actually driving at, but the speed he was clocked at while braking!

There are at least 121 reasons why this bloke is an idiot!

[Leigh]

from The Canberra Times (http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class =news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=403249&y=2005&m=6)

231km/h driver cops six-month jail term
By Megan Doherty
Thursday, 23 June 2005

A Sydney businessman appeared stunned as he was sentenced to six months' jail yesterday for driving a luxury Bentley car at 231km/h as he rushed to Canberra, alarming other motorists along both the Hume and Federal highways with his speeding.

Goulburn Local Court heard on the night of the offence, Alan Denis Shortall wanted to get his sick wife to their hotel room in Canberra as quickly as possible as they were due to go to a post- Budget dinner later that evening to be attended by Prime Minister John Howard.

The court heard the Bentley had the potential to reach speeds of 340km/h and Shortall's vehicle was braking heavily when the speed of 231km/h was detected by police operating radar on the Federal Highway at Collector on May 10, Budget night.

A clearly shaken Shortall - the chief executive officer of the publicly listed company Unilife Medical Solutions - immediately filed an appeal against the jail sentence given by Magistrate Rob Rabbidge yesterday.

He was allowed bail after less than an hour in custody. Shortall's driver's licence was also suspended for 12 months.

Outside the court, Shortall, 52, of Tamarama, said he deeply regretted his "irresponsible behaviour".

"To say I'm devastated is an understatement," he said. "I have never been charged with anything outside a speeding offence. I live my life in a very good way. I try to be a good role model. To be incarcerated like that is beyond my capability of comprehension."

Mr Rabbidge said he had taken into account Shortall's "fine character" and that he had pleaded guilty, but he could not ignore the "very serious nature" of the offence or his lengthy record of speeding offences.

Dublin-born Shortall had amassed 20 traffic offences since coming to Australia from Ireland in 1990, almost all of them for speeding and six of them occurring in Queensland in one year.

Police had said the potential danger posed by Shortall's actions on May 10 was extreme as he passed by numerous rest area entrances and cross-over roads where he could have encountered other vehicles.

[ferrari fan]

So why are we buying 260KW motorcars and 180hp Motorbikes?
anything more than say 50HP in a normal sedan will get you traveling at 110KM/H
Pulling Horsefloats,Boats, racecar trailers etc?

[TBVX05]

Speak For Yourself! :D

[Esses]

Oh well, I hadn't mentioned names but so be it. He's convicted now, anyway. One of the reasons I posted this was that the stretch of road he was booked on was where we were passed (twice) by a speeding Lexus last October on our way home from Hols. He, too was booked - twice. That Holiday (School Holidays) over 2700 (say that slowly) drivers were booked for speeding near Port MacQuarie alone.

As the report says, there are numerous rest areas & cross-overs all along there - we used the rest areas - with 3 small kids it's unavoidable (:D ) - and I'm sorry, but no matter how good your brakes are, if another vehicle pulls out in front of your 231 kmh Bentley within the reaction & braking distance, then it's me & my kids that are going to pay the price. Speed DOES kill, because speed wouldn't happen without the nut behind the wheel.

Next Saturday, we set off on this years Holiday to Qld. Same roads, same traffic. Hopefully, NOT the same Bentley.

[ferrari fan]

Originally posted by Nick Short
I want to know who has voted that the idiot in the Bentley get a V8 license!

Why?

[Nick Short]

Just curious to know who thinks that behaving like an idiot deserves a) to be rewarded, and b) means that he would be an ideal race driver!

Speed is the killer in the end, because if you are inattentive/unskilled/drunk/short-sighted/aggressive/overconfident or any other reason, your inevitable accident will be fatal at high speed and less likely at lower speed. And even if you as a driver are as attentive as you like, public roads are full of nasty surprises, which will have far worse consequences at speed. Quiet city street, no traffic, 60 limit, you're doing 150, you are skilled at the technical side of steering, braking etc. You get home without incident. Proves that speed isn't dangerous? That's like saying Chernobyl had a 100% safety record right up until its poorly maintained reactor blew up! The elements of high risk were there even if nothing had happened up to that point........

[Footy]

Nick,speed is'nt the killer,The sudden stop is.;)

[Martin Thomas]

It won't be the Bently that stops suddenly....

[BILLFORD1]

Maybe someone should take the tosser & his Bentley up to Bathurst, close the road for a few hours, (allowing for wreck recovery & cleanup of scenery time) & let him do ten laps !!!

[brchi17]

I would have thought that someone on that sort of income would have a helicopter, why not use that ???

Perhaps it's time they built an autobahn styled roads linking our nations capitals ???

cheers. :)

[Martin Thomas]

Originally posted by brchi17
IPerhaps it's time they built an autobahn styled roads linking our nations capitals ???

cheers. :)

Just as long as our taxes don't have to pay for it.. there's still plenty of work on health and education that is more important.

Don't know how we are going to keep livestock/roos off the road either. Germany is a completely kettle of fish to Australia.

[barney66]

really... it makes NO difference to the production standards of a car as the speed at impact, especially a head on would be catostrophic. attached is a pic of an extremely safe, extremely well produced and manufactured Ferrari 360 Modena which hit a power pole at Samford (Brisbane) last night (Fri 24th June 2005). speed was about 100mph and the front end of the Ferrari has been obliterated and both occupants were hurt. Does anyone think that because the Bently cost a packet and is built safe it would save the lives of the 12 tourists on a daytrip in a tarago minivan when they collide... i don't think so

one thing I cannot understand is if you have the money for these sorts of cars why don't BRAINS go with it. I mean if you have that much money go and hire a track for a day.

one things for sure... with the price of crude oil and fuel at $1/litre we will all might witness the demise of the automobile... which means our diecast collections may increase in value.

barney66

[singer]

Originally posted by brchi17

Perhaps it's time they built an autobahn styled roads linking our nations capitals ???

cheers.


You means ones like the Federal government has been promising for the past 25 years:rolleyes:

Not to mention TAXING us poor suckers while they get Chauffered around in the big White limos. Remember the Australian Bicentennial Road Fund which was supposed to give us Dual carriageway Highway right around Australia by 1988, then the Australian Land Transport Fund (when the Bicentennary was over) etc, etc,

The Blood sucking pollies bleed us dry while giving themselves payrises & tax relief while not spending our monies as was set out in the legislation. :mad:

[texan]

Perhaps it's time they built an autobahn styled roads linking our nations capitals ???


Not before they fix up the joke of a licencing system and people's attitudes!

[Esses]

I thought I'd ressurrect this thread in light of the "Speed does/doesn't kill" debate going on in the "DJR" thread. Lots of interesting comments in here from people also discussing the alledged DJR/speed issue. Also because Brchi mentioned this idiot. As I remember, he got off Jail on appeal. Got a Bond instead. I realise that an "anonymous" Falcon with "DJR" plates doing maybe 120kmh & this clown doing 230+ are poles apart, it's the whole "speeding cause I can & it's not that dangerous" attitude that interests & concerns me.

[whitlam]

whats with the poll? :confused:

[brchi17]

whats with the poll? :confused:

it's product of when Nathan updated the forum to it's current spec, but don't worry it's not the only thread that has this problem ;)

[james]

I thought I'd ressurrect this thread in light of the "Speed does/doesn't kill" debate going on in the "DJR" thread. Lots of interesting comments in here from people also discussing the alledged DJR/speed issue. Also because Brchi mentioned this idiot. As I remember, he got off Jail on appeal. Got a Bond instead. I realise that an "anonymous" Falcon with "DJR" plates doing maybe 120kmh & this clown doing 230+ are poles apart, it's the whole "speeding cause I can & it's not that dangerous" attitude that interests & concerns me.Speed never killed anyone.

[Esses]

Speed never killed anyone.


Oh lord! Here we go again, more "informed comment".:rolleyes:

[hobby]

Speed never killed anyone.

Oh lord! Here we go again, more "informed comment".:rolleyes:

Think it has something to do with the stop

[james]

Think it has something to do with the stop
Yes that is usually the problem.