Radar stops car doing Mach 3

7 April 2004

BRUSSELS – A police radar in Brussels recently stopped a car travelling at three times the speed of sound, newspaper La Derniere Heure reported on Wednesday.

The incident happened in December but has only just come to light, the newspaper said.

Apparently the car, a standard mini, was ‘flashed’ by the radar when it drove too quickly along the Boulevard Lambermont in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek.

However, when police retrieved the necessary data from the radar in order to fine the errant motorist, they were more than a little surprised.

According to the device, the car had been travelling at 3,381 kilometres per hour, or over three times the speed of sound.

“We called the local police to find out what height the plane caught speeding along the Boulevard Lambermont was flying at,” joked a member of the Brussels public prosecutor’s office cited in the Derniere Heure report.

After the incident the police rather sheepishly said they would make sure the over enthusiastic radar was repaired.

The supersonic motorist was apparently let off with a warning.

Subject: Belgian news