Speedster nabbed doing 254 km/h

The driver of a Mercedes Benz C63 AMG was caught doing 254 km/h near Scottsburgh in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend.

Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) spokesperson Zinhle Mali praised RTI officer Timothy Simpson (56) for nabbing the driver.

Describing the high-speed chase to The Witness, Simpson said the sound that the Mercedes made was the loudest he had ever heard.

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“My colleague and I were travelling on the N2 near Ellingham, northbound, when we heard a vehicle coming from behind us on the southbound lane.”

The vehicle came flying past followed by a Porsche and the sound of that car (Mercedes) was the loudest sound I’ve ever heard to be honest.
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“They were travelling in the direction of Southgate near Ifafa. I gave chase in our Golf 6 GTi and I managed to trap the Mercedes driver,” said Simpson.

Simpson said the two cars pulled over and stopped near Ifafa but he flew past them and had to reverse as quickly as possible.

“I went to the driver of the Mercedes and asked who was driving the vehicle.

“He blamed a woman passenger in the vehicle at that time, saying that it was her.

I told him a lady can’t drive at that speed. That’s when he confessed and apologised, saying it was him and they were going down to a state party and that he got carried away and was driving extremely fast.
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According to Simpson, the car did not have a front number plate, the driver didn’t have a license and the car itself was not licensed.

He said the necessary procedures were followed and the man was taken to the police station where he was locked up.

He said the man had to pay R3 000 bail and is due to appear in court on April 19.

Speaking to The Witness on his career and other arrests, Simpson said he started working in the field in 1991 in Kokstad.

“I left in 1995 to take over a position in Pennington as a chief traffic officer but went back to RTI in Park Rynie in 2005.

He said he had caught someone who was travelling at 285 km/h on a motorbike back in 2007 and he was convicted, another man was doing 252km/h in an Audi Quattro in 2010 and he was also convicted.

I have made 223 arrests since 2011 but there’s obviously been a lot more before that and all these arrests are for speed, drunk driving, stolen vehicles etc