Dh3.7 million speeding fine

SWITZERLAND // A Swedish man has been given what is believed to be the world's largest speeding fine, at around Dh3.7 million, after getting clocked going 290kph. The 37-year-old was behind the wheel of a Mercedes SLS AMG, which was impounded along with his driving licence. In Switzerland, speeding fines are calculated using a formula that takes into consideration the income of the motorist and the severity of the speed. The man is now facing the highest possible penalty of 300 days of fines at Dh12,400 a day - a total of Dh3.7 million. "We have no record of anyone being caught travelling faster in the country," The Guardian reported a police spokesman as saying. The driver avoided being caught by a number of radars, simply because he was driving too fast and they were incapable of capturing speeds more than 200kph. A new generation of radar machines finally clocked him on the motorway between Bern and Lusanne. Benoît Dumas, a police officer in the region, said, "He needed over half a kilometre of road to come to a halt."