A driver in Georgia will almost definitely think twice about speeding in the future after he was slapped with a $1.4 million fine for driving 35mph over the limit.
Being hit with a fine for bad driving is always going to be annoying - proving that it's a good way to learn your lesson - but Connor Cato felt that more than most after he was pulled over in Savannah, Georgia last month.
Cato had been traveling in a 55mph zone at a hefty 90mph, so it's really no surprise that a cop was quickly on his tail.
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Speaking to WSAV-TV, Cato admitted that he knew he was going to get a ticket, but he never anticipated just how much the fine would be.
The driver was slapped with the seven-figure fine of $1.4 million - not exactly the type of cash you have saved for a rainy day.
Cato was convinced the figure must have been some sort of typo, so he called the court in a bid to clear things up.
Unfortunately for Cato, the court only confirmed the number.
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“‘$1.4 million,’ the lady told me on the phone," Cato recalled. "I said, ‘This might be a typo’ and she said, ‘No sir, you either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on Dec. 21 at 1:30 p.m'."
Criminal defense attorney Sneh Patel was just as shocked as Cato, telling the local outlet: "Not $1.4 million — that’s something that goes into cases that are drug trafficking, murders or aggravated assaults, something of that nature."
When WSAV-TV contacted the Savannah Records Court, it was told that such fines are common practice in the Savannah area to make sure 'super speeders' appear in court.
A 'super speeder' is anyone caught driving more than 35 miles over the speed limit.
However, Cato won't actually have to find $1.4 million to hand over.
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Joshua Peacock, a spokesperson for Savannah’s city government, explained that the figure is generated by e-citation software used by the local Recorder’s Court and is automatically applied to super speeders.
The real fine, which cannot exceed $1,000, plus state-mandated costs, will be set by the judge at Cato's mandatory court appearance.
“We do not issue that placeholder as a threat to scare anybody into court, even if this person heard differently from somebody in our organization,” Peacock said in a statement.
“The programmers who designed the software used the largest number possible because super speeder tickets are a mandatory court appearance and do not have a fine amount attached to them when issued by police.”
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Peacock added that the city has been using the system since 2017, but it is 'currently working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion'.