Germany: No charges for Czech tycoon’s 257 mph stunt
Apr 22, 2022, 1:11 PM | Updated: 1:28 pm
BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors have decided not to press charges against a Czech millionaire who drove a high-powered sportscar along a German highway at speeds of at least 414 kilometers per hour (257 mph).
Germany’s dpa news agency reported Friday that prosecutors in the town of Stendal reviewed footage of the stunt and concluded that Radim Passer had not broken the law when he pushed his Bugatti Chiron to extreme speeds on a stretch of autobahn between Berlin and Hannover.
In a post below the video, which was uploaded to social media, Passer wrote that the video was recorded last year on a 10-kilometer (6-mile) straight section with three lanes and “visibility along the whole stretch.”
“Safety was a priority, so the circumstances had to be safe to go,” he said.
More than two-thirds of Germany’s highway network has no speed limit, a feature that has attracted foreign drivers who want to drive at breakneck speeds not permitted in their own countries.
German authorities can still prosecute drivers who drive in a way that is considered reckless, regardless of their speed. But Stendal prosecutors told the dpa news agency that they believed Passer had not endangered anyone because he had chosen the best time and conditions for the stunt.
The recent rise in fuel prices and Russia’s war on Ukraine has reignited a debate in Germany about imposing a universal speed limit to help the country wean itself from Russian energy, but the pro-business Free Democratic Party that runs the Transport Ministry has rejected the idea.
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