Maxine Harrison
A Georgia-based man couldn’t believe his eyes when he discovered he had been fined $1.4 million for a speeding ticket.
Although Connor Cato was initially shocked at the figure, he did candidly admit that he wasn’t surprised that he got a fine, considering he was driving 90mph in a 55mph zone in his car.
According to WSAV, Cato said: "I knew I was going to be fined for speeding, but $1.4 million was beyond comprehension."
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After calling the court to see if the fine amount was a typo, Cato told NBC News he was informed that it wasn’t a mistake.
If that’s not a warning against speeding, I don’t know what is.
There was some relief for Cato, though, as the court informed him that the $1.4 million was actually a ‘placeholder’ figure, as opposed to the final fine amount.
Officials from the city of Savannah said that anyone driving 35mph over the speeding limit has to appear in court. This is when the final amount of the fine will be decided by a judge.
As Cato was driving at 90mph in a 55mph zone, he falls under this rule and will have to go to court in December to get clarity from a judge on his final fine amount.
According to a spokesman for Savannah’s city government, Joshua Peacock, the $1.4 million ‘placeholder’ figure that was given to Cato was automatically generated by e-citation software used by the local Recorder’s Court.
However, the placeholder amount is way above the possibility of what the final fine could be, as it cannot exceed $1,000, on top of state-mandated fees.
Unsurprisingly, this story has sparked online reaction, with one Reddit user saying: “Kinda weird that they don't just make the placeholder amount the maximum fine, but maybe they want people to go to court so that it sends a message even to those who can easily afford $1,000.”
However, addressing this belief, Peacock told the Associated Press: “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.”
Suggesting that they are working on clarity, he said that the court ‘is currently working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion.’
Of course the dangers of speeding go well beyond a fine, with the latest figures showing there were 12,151 speeding-related deaths in 2022.
If anything, this story serves as a reminder to be extra careful on the road.