BERLIN (AP) – German prosecutors have decided not to press charges against a Czech millionaire who drove a high-performance sports car at a speed of at least 414 kilometers per hour on a German autobahn.
German news agency dpa reported on Friday that Stendal city prosecutors reviewed footage of the stunt and found that Radim Passer did not break the law by accelerating his Bugatti Chiron at extreme speeds on a stretch of motorway between Berlin and Hanover.
In a post below the video, which was uploaded to social media, Passer wrote that the video was taken last year on a 10-kilometer straight section with three lanes and “visibility throughout the route.”
“Safety was a priority, so the circumstances had to be safe,” he said.
More than two-thirds of Germany’s autobahn network has no speed limit, a trait that has attracted foreign drivers wanting to drive at breakneck speeds not allowed in their own countries.
German authorities can still pursue drivers who drive recklessly, regardless of their speed. But the Stendal public prosecutor told the dpa news agency that they assumed that Passer had not endangered anyone because he had chosen the best time and the best conditions for the stunt.
The recent rise in fuel prices and Russia’s war on Ukraine have reignited a debate in Germany about introducing a universal speed limit to help the country wean itself off of Russian energy, but the pro-business FDP, which heads the transport ministry, has idea rejected.
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