Five FM radio
jock Gareth Cliff was caught doing 182km/h on the freeway last night. The
breakfast show host was rushing home from Durban
after a long day in which he was participating in the preliminary judging
process of the Idols music talent
search programme. Cliff was arrested
and taken to a holding cell, where
he spent a few minutes before posting bail.
Driving his Range Rover Evoque, Cliff went over the freeway
speed limit of 120km/h on the R21
near Lyttelton, east of Pretoria. All Evoque models can hit top speeds of at least 195km/h. In South
Africa you can be fined money up to 179km/h
on the freeway. Going over this speed calls for immediate arrest and a date with a local magistrate where a fine or a prison sentence can be meted out, or both,
depending on the circumstances.
“Rumours of my
imprisonment are greatly exaggerated” he Tweeted to his 245 000 odd Twitter fans. He then told EWN.co.za: “I’m not
making excuses but I had a long day
and I hit the speedometer, thinking
I just want to get home. Then, the next thing, there were blue lights in my mirror.”
Of course Cliff isn’t the first nor the last famous South
African to be fined for excessive
speeding. In August 2009, his fellow 5FM jock DJ Fresh was caught doing 161km/h in a 120km/h zone while driving a Volkswagen Touareg. At the time he issued a statement saying:
“I knew that my actions were wrong and therefore punishable by law. I was in my
sound and sober senses at the time.” Thereafter he parted with a R5 000 admission of guilt fine.
Other famous convicted speedsters include current COPE president Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, who was at the time Minister of Defence,
for doing 180km/h on the freeway, DJ S’bu for the massive 257km/h in his
sponsored Audi TT (Audi quickly took the car off him), Platinum Stars FC winger Thuso
Phala who did 195km/h and others who may not have attracted media
attention.
2 comments:
Some drivers just don't realize what they're doing. It's very easy to speed like crazy....the hard thing it's to respect the law, including speed limits.
All these limits have a purpose and if we think breaking them won't hurt others we should look in the newspaper or watch TV because every single day people die because of speeding drivers.
The huge number of speeding tickets Toronto scares me every single day when I drive to and back from work. Even if I respect all traffic laws I could still end up in a hospital or even dead because of a speeding driver and that's very sad.
How Appaling! Sies man!
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