A Keelung resident surnamed Wu (吳) was shocked when he received a speeding ticket and a fine of NT$24,000 from the New Taipei City (新北市) police department for driving at 1,623kph — 1,563kph over the speed limit.
Wu, who received the ticket in the mail on Wednesday, was incredulous when he saw the fine, saying the government was robbing him. A Department of Motor Vehicles staffer said he had never seen anything like the speeding ticket.
Tseng Huan-chang (曾煥彰), the patrol officer in the Ruifang Precinct Traffic Duty Section of the New Taipei City Police Department who issued the ticket, apologized to Wu after he was informed of the issue.
Tseng said a camera caught Wu speeding along the Maoao section of Provincial Highway No. 2. The section of the highway has a speed limit of 60kph, Tseng said, but Wu was driving at 75kph when the speed camera took the photo.
The company that police outsource data input to made a mistake, keying in 1,563kph instead of 15kph over the speed limit, inflating the original NT$1,600 fine to NT$24,000, Tseng said.
The mistake was not spotted, Tseng said, adding that a correct ticket would be mailed to Wu.
Wu said his wife had almost divorced him because of the police department’s mistake, adding that friends who saw the ticket joked that he must have been flying an airplane on the highway.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
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