"What do my eyes see?" Finnish traffic police watched in amazement a few days ago how a remote-controlled car driving on a highway at excessive speed was 'caught' by a speed camera.
According to the Helsingin Uutiset newspaper, the remote-controlled car, about 50 centimetres long, was detected by the police camera, which flashed when the device was traveling on the road at 70 kilometres per hour.
The events occurred on 10 October in Töytäri (Hämina, about 145 kilometres east of Helsinki), in a section of the road where the maximum speed is limited to 60 km/h.
Prohibited by law
According to the newspaper, High Commissioner Dennis Pasterstein, head of the Center for Road Safety, explained that driving a remote-controlled car on a public highway is prohibited by law.
However, police say they have also learned some positive lessons from this case. "The good news is that radar is able to detect a small object in the flow of traffic, measure its speed and take a very good picture," says Pasterstein.
The owner could be fined
In conversation with Iltalehti, this traffic expert also explained that article 12 of the Finnish Traffic Law states that nothing can be placed or left on the road that could endanger or obstruct traffic.
According to the police, the owner of the device could be fined. However, although the model is easily identifiable from the image captured by the camera, it lacks licence plates, so the 'driver' remains unidentified.
