The speeding car in question drove past police on a road outside Skövde, western Sweden. When officers eventually managed to catch up and stop the vehicle it had been clocked as driving at 180 kilometres per hour – 80 kilometres per hour over the road’s limit.
When police approached the vehicle the mother was talking on her mobile phone. The policeman who saw the incident told the court that he had to twice ask her to finish her call and speak to him instead.
According to the mother, her son had become upset when another motorist overtook him and pointed his finger at him, leading to the 17-year-old picking up his speed to match the other car. She claimed that she tried to get her son to slow down, but he was “unresponsive”.
The district court which originally dealt with the case decided that the son had acted against his mother’s instructions and that the incident could be seen as a “technical mistake”, acquitting her of responsibility.
The Göta Court of Appeal saw things differently however, saying that the mother “failed in her duties as a supervisor”.
It concluded that her use of her phone showed that she was not paying enough attention to her son’s speed nor making enough effort to ensure he reduced it. She was convicted of a speeding offence and violating the highway code.
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