Uglysasquatch, Mercenary Major wrote:
How do you accidentally hit 100mph? What kind of car were you driving? The only time I've ever done that, I was well aware of the fact that I was near that speed, and the car was sure to let me know by the fact that it was rattling (piece of crap) or floating (family sedans aren't meant to go that fast apparently.
Actually, come to think of it, I did hit near that first time I drove the 300 I used to have and was shocked to find out I was going anywhere near that.
It was sometime in the first month after buying my G8. I made a quick lane change to get around a slow moving car and sped up because there was a faster moving car coming up in that lane behind me. In just the couple seconds it took to make the lane change and then glance down at the speedometer, I was doing 100mph and still accelerating.
It actually took me a while to learn *not* to step on the gas as much while driving that car.
I guess what I'm getting at is that the excessiveness of the speed in question really does depend on the car you're driving in. My car isn't close to the performance of the cars in the OP, but 120 is pretty easy to hit and while I wouldn't want to have to make any fast lane changes while at that speed, unless I hit a moose or something, I'm not going to lose control on a straight road. Frankly for the cars in the OP, as long as there aren't other slower moving cars on the road, that's a safe cruising speed on a relatively straight road.
I'm not condoning what they were doing at all, but I also don't happen to think driving 120mph should result in losing your car, unless there were other mitigating circumstances which made what you were doing exceptionally dangerous (intoxicated, road with intersections, road with pedestrians along side it, etc). Even then, it should be about consistent fines and penalties for the same crime. Confiscating a car punishes the guy with the more expensive car for no really good reason at all. Was his action more dangerous? Then why punish him more?
I just think it violates the principle of equal protection under the law.