How does a $200,000 speeding ticket grab you? For driving a mere 25 mph over the limit? Well, we’re not talking about the U.S. — this world-record speeding fine was levied in Finland — but did you know that the maximum fine for speeding in some areas of Canada could reach $25,000? American drivers may or may not consider themselves lucky that speeding fines top out here at about $2500 for the worst offenders and that freeway speed cameras are a relative rarity. But what happens when they go on vacation? Speeders beware: We take a look at the world’s most expensive places to get clocked.

Finland, Denmark (unlimited)
Highest Fines: $200,000 (or more)

Even if you’re one of the richest men in Europe, a nearly $200,000 speeding ticket is going to pang just a little (and that was in 2002, when $200,000 was a lot of money). The Trick here is that Finland, and nearby Denmark, both levy speeding fines depending on the annual income of the driver unfortunate enough to pick up a ticket. In this case, records showed that Jussi Salonoja, a 27-year-old heir to a northern European meatpacking empire, earned $11.5 million in 2002, which after a complex calculation by the courts resulted in the world-record fine of about $200,000. And all that for driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone. A Finnish business executive also had a $165,000 fine reduced to a mere $9000 after he restated his earnings to the courts.

Canada
Highest Fines: $25,000

Though generally a speeding ticket at the higher end in Canada will cost you no more than $1000 — which isn’t an insignificant amount — a motorcyclist caught at 164 mph in Alberta last year paid out a whopping $12,000 speeding fine in a deal struck with prosecutors that allowed him to keep his license. The same court also has levied an $8,500 fine on a motorist who struck a similar deal. And just in case you’re tempted to put your foot down on the province’s incredibly straight, and often empty, freeways, just remember that the maximum fine for speeding in Alberta is $25,000. Excessive speeders in Ontario, meanwhile, also can face fines of up to $10,000.

The United Kingdom
Highest Fines: $8,000

The UK, like many other countries, fines speeders on a sliding scale based on how fast the driver was traveling above the limit and conditions in the area the driver was clocked. But a Porsche 911 driver caught in 2007 at 172 mph on a rural back road resulted in British authorities doubling the fine for careless driving from $4000 to $8000. While the Porsche driver in question — who police had clocked while they had stopped another motorist for doing 115 mph — was merely ordered to pay $1250 in court costs, he was also ordered to spend 10 weeks in jail. General speeding tickets, which largely are enforced by speed cameras, are a mere $100.

The United States
Highest Fines: $2500

Drivers unlucky enough to be clocked at high speeds in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire all are liable to be fined up to $1000 for their actions. But strikingly, drivers clocked at speeds deemed unsafe in Michigan, New Jersey and Texas all are subject so a second fine being imposed a year later that often can tally more than the original $1000 once court costs are included. Last year, Virginia repealed a law that allowed a court to impose fines of $2500 for driving more than 10 mph above the legal limit, or a speed it deemed reckless. And be aware that jail time is mandatory for driving deemed reckless in many states and municipalities across the country.

Norway & Iceland
Highest Fines: 10% of annual income and jail time (Norway), $2700 (Iceland)

Travelers already will know that Norway is absurdly expensive in many ways, as Iceland used to be before its banking system collapsed last year, and their speeding fines are no different, at 10 per cent of annual income and $2700 respectively. But Norway distinguishes itself by imposing a mandatory minimum jail term of 18 days for speeding offenses deemed excessive alongside the hefty fine. Speeders can also face community service or a license suspension of more than three years. In Iceland, higher fines are justified by their supporters by the danger of driving on roads that can turn quickly from tarmac to gravel, often leading to unintended consequences for fast drivers.

Portugal
Highest Fines: $1800

While the maximum fine for speeding can top $1800 depending on an offender’s income and the road conditions where the offense occurred, we’re a little more concerned with the trend toward on-the-spot fines that are collected by the local constabulary for offenses ranging from speeding to driving while talking into a phone or failing to buckle up even in the back seats. Interestingly, most of the police vehicles are equipped with mobile ATM machines so there is no need for police to march a driver to a faraway cash point. Drivers who can’t pay are forbidden to drive. But who, we ask, regularly has $1800 on hand, or a credit or debit card withdrawal limit to match? And what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

France, Switzerland, Italy
Highest Fines: $2100

Yes the image of a Citroen 2CV going far past the speed limit is difficult to conjure, and many of us also have been the victim of a tailgating Italian high-revving behind us in a tiny Fiat 126, but stereotypes aside, speeding is a seriously expensive business in western Europe, where enthusiasm for domestic car production and Formula One racing go hand-in-hand. Speed cameras are common and on the rise in France, and a speed deemed excessive can result in jail time. European motorists also are getting used to the fact that points levied on a license in a different country to their own now stand on their domestic license — so a British driver that speeds in Italy can have points added to their UK license after a series of bilateral agreements was struck between European nations. Is the US next?

Australia
Highest Fines: $857

Speeding Down Under can cost you a pretty penny, and some may be tempted to put down their right foot while driving through Australia’s massive, empty interior — it’d take a brave cop to be waiting on a roadside in that heat — but tickets here are increasingly expensive, and common, as a result of speed cameras. Redflex, the company that’s brought so many red-light cameras to the US, pioneered its hi-tech systems here, and operates in most major cities. Be aware that Australian authorities are increasingly pursuing speeding tourists once they have returned to their country of residence, and note that, in the event a speeding ticket is not paid, a foreigner may have difficulty reentering Australia.

The Netherlands
Highest Fines: $800

Maybe you thought they all rode bikes in Holland, but a speeding ticket sustained here would soon shock you out of a previously held image of pedaling along windmill-lined bucolic country roads as the only mode of transport. A high-end fine levied for speeds deemed excessively dangerous can result in a fine of $800 or more. While every-day fines are paid to an officer on the spot, and penalties for tailgating also are common, drivers caught at double the speed limit are subject to state penalties including jail and having their vehicles confiscated. And there’s nothing like having your car taken away to leave you riding a bike to work every day.

Germany
Highest Fines: $623

It’s only on Germany’s world-famous Autobahns where there is no speed limit, and drivers can, and often do, drive at speeds in excess of 180 mph in the land that gave us Porsche, BMW and Mercedes (if you’ve ever been caught behind a truck in one of the slower lanes, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about). But that doesn’t mean German authorities want the rest of their driving experiences to resemble the Nurburgring: Speeders caught driving at 45 mph or more over the speed limit on regular roads will face a fine topping $600, a three-month license suspension and four points on their license. Achtung!

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Originally posted 2009-10-09 11:10:55.

Popularity: 8% [?]

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – More than 100 protesters chanted “war criminal” and flung shoes in Calgary on Tuesday, angry that former U.S. President George W. Bush was in the Canadian city to give his first speech since leaving the White House.

At least two demonstrators were hauled away by police after brief skirmishes, as 1,500 business people in the oil patch city waited outside a convention center for an hour to pass through tight security and enter the C$400-a-plate ($315) luncheon.

Media were barred from covering the invitation-only event, during which Bush had been expected to reflect on his eight years as president.

According to sources who attended, he conceded that his administration spent its final days “bailing water” to keep the U.S. economy afloat.

However, the Obama administration should not let government become a substitute for the free market, and it should also avoid becoming more protectionist on trade matters, he was said to have remarked.

Although he was not Bush’s first choice as president, Barack Obama has his full support, he said.

The luncheon crowd was friendlier than the one outside.

“He is a war criminal who fought an illegal war, and there are some who say he was never elected democratically, so there are some who say he should be arrested as soon as he comes here,” said a woman dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who called herself Ivana Nomobush.

She had brought with her a makeshift “shoe cannon” that catapulted footwear, but complained that security personnel were not letting her use it.

The shoe theme is an homage to Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was sentenced last week to three years in prison for hurling his shoes at Bush in December.

The reaction was in stark contrast to President Barack Obama’s first official visit to Canada last month, when he was fawned on by citizens and politicians alike.

A handful of demonstrators came out in support of the former president, who left office in January, having suffered plummeting popularity due to more than five years at war in Iraq and an economic meltdown.

“We wanted to welcome George W. Bush and let him know that everyone’s not opposed to his presidency,” said Jeff Willerton, who held up a pro-Bush placard. “I think under the circumstances he was one of the better presidents we could have asked for.”

As center of Canada’s oil industry, Calgary is known as one of the country’s most conservative cities.

By the turnout among its business community for the speech, it is clear that Bush can still draw a crowd, city councilor Joe Ceci said.

“But it’s this crowd that gratifies me even more,” Ceci said of the demonstrators. “Just to see Calgarians interested, aware, and just kind of speaking up, and speaking up for things anti-war.”

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Originally posted 2009-03-18 09:56:24.

Popularity: 1% [?]

ELLSINORE, Mo. (Associated Press) — A flight student suspected of stealing a plane in Canada and flying erratically across three states was trying to commit suicide, hoping to get shot down by military fighter planes, a state trooper said Tuesday.

Adam Dylan Leon, 31, was arrested at a convenience store in Ellsinore, Mo., shortly after landing the single-engine, four-seat Cessna on a rural Missouri road Monday night, police said.

The plane, which flew for six hours, was tracked as a “flight safety issue” and was not believed to be a terrorist threat, Mike Kucharek, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in a telephone interview from Colorado Springs, Colo. A background check of Leon showed no connection to terrorism, FBI agent John Gillies said.

The Missouri state trooper who arrested Leon said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the pilot told him he had hoped to be shot down.

“He made a statement that he was trying to commit suicide and he didn’t have the courage to do it himself. And his idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States, where he would be shot down,” Trooper Justin Watson said.

Leon was jailed in St. Louis, said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in St. Louis said no charges have been filed.

Gillies said federal authorities must determine if Leon should be charged or simply deported.

The plane was reported stolen Monday afternoon from Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Ontario. The college said in a statement that the flight was unauthorized but that Leon was enrolled in its program.

The plane was intercepted by F-16 fighters from the Wisconsin National Guard after crossing into the state near the Michigan state line.

The pilot flew erratically and didn’t communicate with the fighter pilots, Kucharek said at the Aerospace Defense Command. The pilot acknowledged seeing the F-16s but didn’t obey their nonverbal commands to follow them, Kucharek said.

The plane’s path over Wisconsin prompted a brief, precautionary evacuation of the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, although there were few workers in the building at the time and the governor was not in town.

The Cessna 172 continued south over Illinois and eastern Missouri before landing near Ellsinore, about 120 miles south-southwest of St. Louis. The plane landed about six hours after the reported theft, and had had enough fuel for about eight hours of flight, NAADC officials said.

“We tailed it all the way,” Maj. Brian Martin said. “Once it landed our aircraft returned to base.”

Watson told ABC that Leon apparently hitched a ride to the convenience store after landing on a highway and taxiing the plane to a side road. He didn’t appear surprised when the officer entered the convenience store to arrest him.

Leon said “he didn’t have any ID, but he was the person we were looking for,” Watson said.

He said Leon “gave me no indication that it was anything other than he was having personal problems and was in an attempt to end his life.”

“He did state that he thought at one time he was getting shot down, but apparently the Air Force were just shooting flares,” the trooper said.

Marilyn Simmons, owner of the convenience store, worried about terrorism when a relative called to tell her about the plane.

“My husband went and got his guns and gave me one,” Simmons said.

She then called the store and told workers to watch out. Sure enough, Leon showed up after a young man who stopped to offer help gave him a ride.

“He gave him $2 and dropped him off,” Simmons said. “He asked for the bathroom, then got a Gatorade and sat down at the table. He was there when they came and got him. He was smiling when he went out.”

Confederation College said Leon had access to Cessna training planes and security at the facility was not compromised. It said Leon was readmitted to the program in the fall after failing in 2007, and that he passed his cross-country solo flying test last week.

Fellow students were shocked and surprised, said Patricia Lang, president of the college.

“His faculty speak very highly of him,” she said. “Everyone likes him. He was a very good student. He was very engaged in class. He asked great questions so he was an all-around good student.”

She said Leon lived off campus in Thunder Bay.

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Originally posted 2009-04-07 11:24:43.

Popularity: 2% [?]