Week 2 Foreign paper Today in the news....

These items will be presented periodically as I find something noteworthy, amusing, or of interest to me. Due to the requirements of the assignment for my journalism class, all postings under this topic will be from one online newspaper only, The Scotsman, from Edinburgh. I have included the entire article for convenience, and the link to it. I have also included a picture of the last tractor that attempted to go 85 mph.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk.cfid=95152006

Speed camera clocks an '85mph tractor'

SPEED camera operators have apologised to a Wiltshire farmer after they tried to fine him for doing 85mph in a tractor, it emerged yesterday.
Steve Crossman was puzzled when he received a ticket saying he had been snapped by a camera in Wales. But he was even more surprised when he realised that he was being fined for speeding.
With a top speed of 26mph it would take Mr Crossman's tractor more than four hours to cover the distance from his farm in Horningsham to Abergarwed, south Wales where the offence took place. The Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership admitted that they had misread a letter on the registration plate on the film and had got the wrong vehicle. They apologised and retracted the ticket.
Mr Crossman said: "It's a good tractor, but not that good."

This article just goes to show me that interaction with the government is often the same the world around. The article does not mention if the ticketing process is totally automated, or if there was any part in this in which humans were involved. If it was all done by computer it is somewhat understandable, but if humans were involved in the process, it begs the question what semi alert civil servant thought that tractors could go 85 mph? Tractors don't often go much over 25 mph, and then only going downhill with a stiff tailwind when driven by the farmer's son. If tractors could indeed travel that fast, we would be treated to the sight of farmers strewn about the countryside after having been flung from their speeding machines. This does not seem to have beeen the case, at least not any place near here. Of course should tractors actually travel that fast attendance at the local tractor races would no doubt increase substantially. But unfortunately the tractors would probably disintegrate long before they reached anything near that speed.

And, when Mr. Crossman said laconically "It's a good tractor, but not that good", didn't he sound a wee bit wistful?