A video trending on social media, recorded by the driver, shows a motorist traveling at 308 km/h on the N1 highway.

Media consultant and anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee posted the video, calling the act “sheer madness”.

The video shows the driver’s dashboard and speedometer, with the vehicle’s speed increasing from just over 240km/h to a peak speed of 309km/h.

It appears he is driving a high-end Audi.

Gauteng Traffic Police said: “These are criminals who arrogantly show off as no one will expose their identity and provide evidence or witness testimony that will result in conviction”.

It added that a previous speeding incident on the R21 highway which involved a motorbike could not result in a conviction as “nobody has spilled the beans and no plates were visible on camera”.

Dialdirect warned of the dire consequences of losing control of your vehicle at this speed.

“Speeding impairs your ability to avoid obstacles and drastically reduces the time you have available to react to a dangerous situation. One vehicle making a move that the driver didn’t anticipate, one piece of debris in the road or one failure like a tyre blowout and this could end up as much more than just a wrecked car,” said Maanda Tshifularo, head of Dialdirect.

Popular UK motoring series, Fifth Gear, published a video of a crash at 120 mph, or 193 km/h – a speed easily attainable by even mid-range modern vehicles – that shows the devastating effect on the vehicle involved.

Even at lower speeds, the threats are very real. According to the World Health Organisation, the likelihood of death in a crash with an 80 km/h impact speed is 20 times higher than that in a crash with a 30 km/h impact speed.

The faster you drive, the greater the impact will be when you hit something, whether it be another car, a tree, a barrier or wall. In essence, you need to slow down if you want to reduce your chances of being fatally injured.

“Substantial fines aside, doing more than 40 km/h over the speed limit will get you arrested on the spot”, said the JMPD’s Wayne Minnaar. “Depending on the severity of your infringement, you could face fines of up to R20,000 or even time behind bars.”

“Whilst most modern cars have some very impressive safety features, most of these are rendered completely useless at higher speeds,” said Tshifularo. “We only need to rewind one year to when a Cape Town businessman’s legs had to be amputated after a high speed crash.”

“If you have a passion for fast cars and an insatiable need for speed, rather find your outlet at track days, advanced driving courses, karting circuits and even simulators, than on the road. Once the damage has been done, a person has been injured, disabled or even killed, you’ll realise that the thrill isn’t worth it, but by then it’ll be too late,” Tshifularo said.

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