In all of this discussion, one interesting piece of information has been overlooked...

He's a hairdresser from the improbably named Cockburnspath.

 

I'm just trying to think of some 'Cock' and 'Hairdresser' related jokes...

No, it's gone

 

Extrapolate; it could well happen within our lifetime. pesonal freedom's only going in one direction.

 

Nor is it any better, necessarily.

Expect that I suspect a lot of the outrage is from Mr Square because his Audi Foolscap TDS won't actually Do 166 and he's frankly envious.

 

He wasn’t jailed for speeding as such.
He was jailed for dangerous driving.

The court system, after looking at evidence, came to the decision that the speed he was doing on the road and in those conditions was dangerous driving not just speeding.
He admitted, in court, to dangerous driving.

Do I think this warranted a serious punishment? – Yes.

Do I think that he should go to jail for 9 months? – Maybe. Dangerous Driving can sometimes deserve a jail term. No doubt he’ll be out in much less than 9 months.

Do I think that the legal system is screwed up and the punishment for other crimes doesn’t seem to balance – Yes.

Is he being used as an example to others? – Yes. But that’s nothing new.

Was it unexpected? Not really, there’s a history of dangerous drivers going to jail, especially in Scotland.

 

[QUOTE=corgi_watkins,Oct 30 2009, 10:22 AM] I reckon you meant potential?

 

Let's also not lose sight of the fact that he pleaded guilty to the charge.

 

I fail to see the reasoning between personal freedom and speeding at 166 mph

Are you suggesting that, in order to enjoy his personal freedom, this man should be allowed to ride at that speed with no regard for any consequences ?

Or are you suggesting that (one day) we will be subject to imprisonment for minor offences such as exceeding the speed limit by a few mph ?

As I have already stated, it was the excessiveness of this offence which led to a term of imprisonment

And yes, he was made an example of

 

I don't think anyone here believed the propaganda about ‘Speed kills’ and the crazy people who want to limit everything to 40mph.

I would suspect that most people have various personal opinions of what speed they would consider ‘safe’ on an A-road.
But whatever each of our personal opinion are on speed and where we draw the line a whole lot of people think that 160 is very much on the otherside of the line.

 

But surely that is the point

This was an A road and as has been described on here by people who know the road, it was unlikely that the road was free from other road users

At 166 mph it would be impossible for the rider to take in everything that was going on around him (In fact I think he would struggle to see much apart from a blur)

Let's imagine a child crossing the road a quarter of a mile in front of him, or a broken down vehicle, or debris in the carriageway, etc. etc.

Do you think he would have time to react ?

There is only one answer to that question and I think you know what it is