Especially you, Coldfire, because I know that you like to drive fast! Is Queen Beatrix having a birthday soon? If so, be careful when you drive!
You british subjects might want to be more cautious when there are parties at Buckingham palace.
Reuters
Oddly Enough Headlines
Tuesday April 18 11:27 AM ET
Car-Mad King Apologizes for Speeding
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden’s car-mad King Carl Gustaf apologized for speeding in his latest Ferrari while on his way to pick up his children for the Queen of Denmark’s birthday party.
``I’m sorry and I apologize,’’ Carl Gustaf told Swedish news agency TT.
The king confessed he had broken the 70-mile an hour speed limit on a motorway near Copenhagen Saturday while driving to collect the children, who were flying in for Queen Margrethe’s 60th birthday celebrations.
He was driving at 87 mph, TT said.
Danish police said they had received an anonymous call on Saturday from someone who said he had seen a car with Swedish plates driving very fast on the motorway, and he believed the driver was the king of Sweden.
Geeze Arnold, now I can’t bug Coldfire about his driving.
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Oh yeah? Well, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. Backwards. In high heels. - As per Wally
He should speed, after all, he is the king. Everything he does must be important, so he would need to travel about quickly. After all speed limits are for peasants.
It would appear so. The times that members of the Dutch Royal Family were busted for speeding (and had gotten away with it!) are countless.
Prince Johan Friso was caught a few years back, test-driving a Ferrari F40. With 270 km/h. He didn’t get a ticket.
Your own lovable harmless Coldfire gets caught all the time for driving, say, 125 in a 120 zone. Does he get tickets? Yes. Lots of them. Not BIG ones (as I usually don’t speed excessively), but still.
Another nice example is Pieter van Vollenhoven, the husband of Princess Margriet (sister of our Queen Beatrix). He is the chairman of Veilig Verkeer Nederland (“Safe Traffic the Netherlands”) and an avid promoter for road safety, driving sober, etc. He’s also a huge BMW motorcycle lover. And he speeds like there’s no tomorrow - I remember one time he got caught doing over 200 km/h
Ah well… I’m enough of an obedient citizen to feel OK about them getting away with it. After all, they are royalty. But then again, you Yankee republicans (not the party!), Canucks and Limeys wouldn’t understand what it is to have a relatively trouble-free monarchy
Defect borg: “Refutile is sistance. Your ass will be simulated”.
WallyM7 on Coldfire: "Yeah, he knows a little about everything because they have a good prison library."
President Vaclav Havel in the Czech Republic got in trouble last year test driving a new Skoda. I guess he wasn’t thinking when he proclaimed that “the car handled real nicely at 180(?)” The max here is 120kph. It was funny that people got so upset, because EVERYONE here drives like a maniac!
Was that the Octavia, Tomcat? I test-drove that one too - a fine car, they’ve really come a long way since they were taken over by VW. I’ll stick with my Peugeot though: more entertaining.
Also: good to see another European doper on the boards! And in the financial industry, no less
Hey, Coldfire, what’s up with the speed limit on Dutch autobahns (sorry, don’t know the Dutch term)? It’s really, really frustrating to cross that border and all of a sudden you’re limited to a lousy 120 ks!
And, um, how likely is it to get a ticket? Let’s say if somebody decided to go 160-170 the entire way from Lisse to the border? Because somebody’s husband decided that the speed signs were just “suggestions”. And how much is a ticket anyway? I really need to know because my husband managed to get one on the German autobahn coming home…somehow I get the feeling that this will turn out to be one of the most expensive vacations ever.
Hey Coldfire,
I am headed back to Amsterdam this weekend and in the interest of avoiding a ticket, I was wondering if you could tell me what the speed limit is in The Netherlands.
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you’ll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion
The speed limit in the Netherlands is 120, unless it is inidcated otherwise. Most ringways around cities are 100, and you can tell by the little yellow “100” plates on the median guard rail.
Holland is full of radar guns and radar photography boxes. It is still possible to speed a little on most motorways, but 170 from Lisse (how was the Keukenhof, tatertot? Can you believe that it’s 35 km’s from my house, and I have NEVER been there?) to the border will almost certainly get you a ticket, if not several. Did you see a flash from the machine, or did you receive the ticket already? Usually, if it’s a small amount, don’t bother paying if you’re abroad. They won’t file an international search operation over 100 Guilders. But 170, I’m guessing, is more along the lines of 500 Guilders or more. Worse, if they catch you redhandedly, they are allowed to impound your car and temporarily revoke your license. Well, if you’re a Dutchman, anyway. I think they just force foreigners to pay up on the spot.
You gotta love the Germans for having (mostly) no speed limits…
The Keukenhof was absolutely gorgeous. Although, if you aren’t big on flowers, it might be kind of boring. I’m going to try to go again in the summer to see the summer flowers, but I think I’ll be leaving Mr. T at home. He seemed kind of disappointed at the lack of drugs and hookers.
Luckily, I think there were a few stretches were he only managed to go 140…we didn’t see any flashers go off, but it was still light outside so there’s still a chance. The only ticket I know for sure we’re getting was on the German autobahn, of all places.
Since we were driving a rental, it will probably take a few months to catch up with us. Oh well, I don’t suppose little Nicholas needs to go to college…
I think there’s a gene for speeding somewhere in the royal bloodlines. The Danish princes, back in their young & rebellious days (Well, as rebellious as you can get with every journalist in 100-mile radius wanting to catch you doing something stupid) were notorious speders. They wrecked at least one car by losing control in a turn (in France, IIRC).
As royalty is considered above the law, it was up to the Queen to administer punishment, which made for some rather amusing cartoons, radio sketches (“Please, mom, I’m SORRY, just don’t hit me with the sceptre again.”) etc.
But the king of Sweden speeding in Denmark ? I’m certain wars have started over less. Perhaps it’s time (takes out maps) to regain what is historically and rightfully ours…
War? Yes!!! Load up the longships, and kiss your family good bye!! Spring is in the air, and its time to go loot and pillage again!! Sven, sharpen up your axe, Lars, get your spear! WHOO Hooo!!! Oh, thats right, we don’t do that anymore. Damn. Oh well.
