A netizen from Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, recently claimed to have received a speeding ticket stating a shocking speed of 17,052 km/h. This news made its way to the top search on Baidu on July 6, sparking discussions and debates.
On a social media platform in China, the netizen shared that upon checking the ticket number 12123, it displayed an average speed of 17,052 km/h, which caught them by surprise.
In response to this, on July 5, a tech news portal explained that 17,052 km/h is nearly 20 times faster than the maximum speed of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (954 km/h).
The news quickly drew attention from many netizens, with some sharing similar experiences. One car owner with a Krypton 001 model admitted to being caught with an average speed of 11,172 km/h, initially thinking they were unbeatable until this incident showed otherwise.
Wuxi traffic police clarified that there was a system error with the equipment, which has since been rectified, and all incorrectly recorded incidents have been revoked.
In response to the incident, a netizen using the alias “King2” expressed dissatisfaction with the carelessness of the traffic police department, citing a personal experience where violations from vehicles with a license plate starting with “苏A” were mistakenly attributed to their “浙A” plate. They added that these errors could have been avoided with a bit more attention to detail.
Another netizen, going by the name “Middle-Aged Grape Dad,” humorously remarked on the absurdity of a speed of 17,000 km/h, equivalent to around Mach 14 or 14 times the speed of sound. They jokingly compared it to a hypersonic weapon that outpaces conventional missile defense systems but cannot trick the speed detection devices of Chinese traffic police.
Meanwhile, “Stomachache Alien” proposed that the issue lies with the system’s equipment and suggested the equipment manufacturer should upgrade and set a redline for abnormal theoretical values. Any readings exceeding this threshold would then be manually reviewed for accuracy.