It is generally understood on the Autobahn that 128 MPH is "normal." If I am driving in the US, I think it is fairly safe to say that I have every reason to think that 128 MPH is not normal. It is dangerous. At a speed like that, he could not possibly react safely. It's true that if a kid stepped out in front of him while he was doing 65 or 75 or whatever the highway (I am assuming, though the article did not say, that this guy was on a highway) speed limit is in Nebraska it would be likely that he would hit the kid. Doing 128 makes it almost twice as likely and gives him almost double the stopping distance. 128 MPH is not safe, and it is reckless.
There is a significant difference between the Autobahn and your average US highway: on the Autobahn, other drivers know that most drivers will be doing high rates of speed because there is no speed limit. Here, we assume here that other drivers will be doing within thirty MPH of the posted speed limit; I have done some interstate driving and the highest speed limit that I have seen is 70, though I think I have heard of a couple of states whose highway limit is 75.
One does not fire a gun in a residential neighborhood for the heck of it (though I am of course all for defending one's home and family by any means necessary). By that same token, one does not drive at 128 MPH unless-well, quite frankly, I cannot think of an event that would make driving at 128 MPH is acceptable. A car is as deadly a weapon as a gun, and should be treated like a gun should be treated: with proper training and proper respect for the damage it could do.
Read the State statue on what constitutes reckless driving and then ask yourself if the judge followed the law, or his emotions?
This is why we conservatives want Judges who follow the law and not their emotions or public hysteria.
Not normal, true. But not being normal is not the same as dangerous. They can get him for speeding, not being reckless, especially if he was alone on the road.
At that speed he can certainly react safely, Germans and airline pilots do it all the time.
Assuming the deceleration from the brakes is a constant, doubling the speed makes the stopping distance quadruple.
The fact that drivers on the Autobahn are much safer helps, as well. Ever wonder why Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc catch so much greif for not putting cup holders or enough cup holders in thier cars? In Germany you don't drive while eating lunch, holding a cell phone to your ear and futzing with the radio. If yo do and you cause an accident, you ride the bus. In the States, there are very few who could safely navigate at those speeds on the highways. We drive like cr@p here.
It's true that if a kid stepped out in front of him...
They would both be dead.
The perp was driving a motorcycle, not a car. If it was one of those crotch rockets, they have little purpose other than GO FAST,.