Officers from the Polish police force's special Speed team spotted a Mercedes barreling down the S3 expressway at 249 kph, more than twice the limit of 120 kph, Grzegorz Jaroszewicz, a spokesman for police in the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski, said on Wednesday.
They immediately gave chase and eventually stopped the car, whose driver "was amazed at the performance of the police vehicle," Jaroszewicz added.
Full of disbelief that the police have caught up with him, the 40-year-old man from the central Mazowieckie province told the officers he had been rushing to a business meeting, Jaroszewicz told reporters.
The Speed team decided a fine of a couple of hundred zlotys would be insufficient for such speeding and referred the case to court, state news agency PAP reported.
It said Polish judges usually agree with the police in such cases, often imposing heavy financial penalties of up to several thousand zlotys.
There is no shortage of speeders among Polish motorists, according to police data. The country's roads are notoriously dangerous and the number of pedestrians killed in the streets is the highest in Europe, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency has reported.
In July, the government adopted a bill to tighten the country's traffic laws in a bid to improve road safety.
Under the bill, the maximum fine for traffic offenses would go up from PLN 5,000 (USD 1,290, EUR 1,100) to PLN 30,000 (USD 7,700, EUR 6,500).
Meanwhile, the minimum fine for drivers failing to respect pedestrians at crosswalks would in some cases rise to PLN 1,500 (USD 389, EUR 326), with repeat offenders facing a penalty of PLN 3,000 (USD 770, EUR 650).
Those breaking the speed limit by more than 30 kph would be subject to a fine of no less than PLN 1,500.
The changes are expected to come into force in December.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP