Obscene at any speed: Tokyo man flipped middle finger at speed monitoring system

TOKYO – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Thursday arrested a 41-year-old man for allegedly driving a sports car more than 100 kilometers per hour over the speed limit, a crime he committed while making an obscene gesture, reports the Nikkan Sports (Mar. 2).

At around 4:15 a.m. on Jan 29, 2016, Yoshimune Shirai, a residence of Setagaya Ward, allegedly reached a speed of 235 kilometers per hour in his Dodge Challenger on the Chuo Expressway in Kunitachi City. The speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour on the expressway.

Shirai was apprehended based on an image and data collected by an Orbis expressway speed monitoring system. In the captured image, the suspect is seen raising his middle finger in the direction of the camera.

Shirai, who has been accused of speeding under the Road Traffic Act, denies the allegations. “I don’t know that the person shown in the image [obtained from the speed monitoring system] is me,” the suspect was quoted by police.

Police also plan to send the suspect to prosecutors for removing the front license plate from the vehicle, which is a violation of the Road Transport Vehicle Act.

The Challenger has a 385-horsepower, 6.4-liter V-8 engine. The vehicle can reach speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per hour. Police believe the suspect drove his vehicle at speeds exceeding the speed limit at least five times on expressways in the capital in 2015 and 2016.