A 29-year old Aurora man was clocked at going 141 km/hr over the speed limit on the Don Valley Parkway yesterday. Not only that, but he was allegedly driving drunk when he was pulled over just after 2 a.m. yesterday morning.

Police finally caught up to him at Hwy 404 and Finch Ave. E. John Kowal, 29, was charged with impaired driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and stunt driving.

His Mercedes SL600 has a base price of about $125,000 (USD) and a top speed of at least 250 km/hr. Good thing he eased off at 231 km/hr (about 144 mph). That's just crazy fast. What does he think this is, the Autobahn? The alleged speeder obviously has more money than brains.

"Since legislation was enacted in September 2007 targeting street racing and aggressive driving in Ontario, thousands of charges have been laid throughout the province," the Toronto Sun reported yesterday. "As of yesterday, Toronto had seized 726 vehicles, including yesterday's Mercedes Benz."

Since Kowal was travelling more than 50 km/hr over the posted speed limit, he also had his Merc automatically impounded for a week. According to The Globe and Mail, 726 vehicles in Toronto were impounded since Bill 203 (the provincial street-racing legislation) took effect 16 months ago.

Going almost twice the speed limit is just nuts. Mix that with a few drinks and that's a recipe for disaster. Good thing the driver was nabbed before going out of control and causing injury to himself or others.

That stretch of highway on the DVP north of Wynford Drive is relatively straight and starts going downhill a bit. It's easy to pick up speed. Once or twice I may have gone almost 120 km/hr before, but only with the flow of traffic. And with clear road conditions. And sober.

How fast have you driven up the DVP? What do you make of this alleged speed freak?

Photo by Roger Cullman.