GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 24-year-old Italian man was stopped by Valais police at 15:30 Wednesday 29 January for driving 206 kph on the autoroute, where the limit is 120. Police say when he was nabbed he was smoking a joint of marijuana. He was handed a CHF2,000 fine as a guarantee and a ban on driving in Switzerland for an indefinite period of time.

Police note that he was just 1 kph under the limit for the Swiss federal law covering “chauffards“, which would have sent him to court with a one- to four-year prison sentence if found guilty. He was technically 79 kph over the limit, and the chauffard law kicks into effect at 80 over, for areas where the limit is 120 kph.

He was caught by a fixed radar in Granges, between Sierre and Sion, when he was heading in the direction of Sion. The radar is shortly after a stretch of autoroute with a tunnel where the limit is 100 kph and an entrance ramp from Sierre.