Speedsters need to be taught a lesson

There are some strange aspects to the arrest of the man who allegedly made a video of himself doing more than 300km/h down the N1 highway in Midrand.

The law enforcement authorities apparently knew he lived in Midrand but, according to what they said, they gave him the opportunity to hand himself over to face justice. When he failed to do so, they used “undercover agents” to track him down and arrest him at a funeral in Polokwane.

Those conflicting and odd explanations don’t fill us with much confidence that the man will eventually be convicted for his alleged crime. We say alleged because it still has to be proven that the video was real and that he was, in fact, the person behind the wheel.

It is important that this case results in a successful prosecution for reckless driving, not for merely breaking the speed limit.

Travelling at this sort of velocity allows little or no room to react to, never mind brake to avoid, obstacles in the road.

Any collision at this speed would have been fatal for the driver and any person in his way.

This is playing with people’s lives and is, in our view, on a par – morally, if not legally – with attempted murder.

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