Talk about a hefty fine.
A man in Savannah, Georgia was caught going nearly double the speed limit by local authorities and received a speeding ticket — for $1.4 million.
Connor Cato was going roughly 90 mph in a 55 mph zone on Saturday when he received a “super speeder” ticket — a citation issued when a driver is going more than 35 mph over the speed limit.
But after looking at the exact fine online attached to his name, he called the court about the charge because he thought it was a mistake.
“‘$1.4 million,’ the lady told me on the phone.,” Cato told local outlet WSAV. “I said, ‘This might be a typo’ and she said, ‘No, sir, you either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on Dec. 21 at 1:30 p.m.'”
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The $1.4 million was meant to be a “placeholder” since speeding tickets in the city of Savannah require a mandatory court appearance. Putting a staggering number ensures that residents show up in court at the required time, a system that the city of Savannah has been using since 2017, according to a spokesperson for the city.
The city said that it is “working on adjusting the language” when speeders receive their e-citations to make it clear that the number they’re seeing is not actually the amount they’re being ordered to pay.
“The City did not implement the placeholder amount in order to force or scare people into court. The programmers who designed the software used the largest number possible because super speeder tickets are a mandatory court appearance and do not have a fine amount attached to them when issued by police,” a spokesperson for the City of Savannah told WSAV.
In reality, Cato could be facing a fine of up to $1,000, though the maximum amount that he can be forced to pay cannot exceed that figure, plus additional state-mandated costs.
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