Jail for 310kph YouTube driver

A DRIVER has been jailed for a year after filming himself driving at 310kph on a main road in Poitou-Charentes then posting the film on YouTube.

Gendarmes had spotted the video online and tracked him down easily as the video - filmed by his passenger last autumn in Deux-Sèvres - also contained the numberplate of his Audi RS4. They had filmed a night-time race between his Audi, a Nissan 300ZX and a Toyota Supra on the RD611 from Niort to La Crèche.

The man, Mickaël D, unemployed, from Niort, had previous convictions for driving offences and he lost his licence in 2010.

In total, he was found guilty of five driving offences and the prosecutor denounced him for putting other road users' lives in danger: "On the video one can see him clearly passing seven vehicles - that is conduct endangering others."

Mickaël claimed the film had been rigged as the section showing the speedometer at 310kph was not his car. However, his lawyer admitted to the court he had been driving too fast.

Newspaper Courrier de l'Ouest has put a version of the video on YouTube here