Skateboarder Sets Off Speed Camera: Faces Prosecution [Video]

A skateboarder in South Africa set off a speed camera and is facing prosecution. The speed cameras recorded a speed of 70 mph in a 37 mph zone.

Decio Lourenco, age 24, and a friend were able to capture the ride, and a GPS devise was used to record Lourenco’s actual speed. The footage of Lourenco speeding down a road from Table Mountain into Cape Town, South Africa was recorded on January 20.

As reported by The Telegraph, Lourenco admits that it was a dangerous stunt but was not deterred:

“I accept that it’s dangerous but so is stepping out of my front door. I skate down that road all the time and was skating well within my limitations.”

The skateboarder insists that he was wearing protective gear and he waited until the road was clear of traffic. Cape Town authorities don’t agree. Cape Town safety and security spokesman Jean-Pierre Smith has encouraged prosecutors to charge Lourenco with negligent and reckless behavior on a road. Smith contends that the behavior was dangerous:

“All that was needed was for one of those motorists to panic and swerve into the oncoming traffic and you have a large number of deaths, as we have already had on that road. If we don’t take action against him, every other aspirant skateboarder will try it and one of them will come to a sticky end.”

Despite the fact that Lourenco’s skateboard set off a speed camera, his 70 mph speed was a bit too slow to make a world record. As reported by gizmag, Mischo Erban currently holds the world record for downhill skateboarding. The 28-year-old was recorded at a top speed of 80.74mph last year in Quebec, Canada. Luckily for Erban, his skateboard did not set off any speed cameras.

[Image via Flickr]