Czech Transport Minister Receives Driving Ban

You know you are in a truly democratic country when even the transport minister gets a driving ban for an offense he actually committed. The man in question is Czech Transportation Minister Vit Barta. According to a New York Times report, Barta was caught driving his Maserati home from his own wedding with fake number-plates. Thus, police imposed a six month ban and a CZK5,000 ($283) fine on the Minister.

In an interview given to the press later on, Transport Ministry spokesman Tomas Dombrovsky said Barta was using the fake plates because he had lost his original plate while driving on a rugged dirt road. If Pinocchio was in his shoes, we bet we would see his nose grow. Can we actually believe he was taking his prized Maserati off-roding?! Is it the norm for a Minister to have fake plates available?!

Check laws say driving into a radar or speed camera without plates will only make you guilty of the offense of driving without plates and not speeding. Also Maserati’s GrandTurismo looks really odd with a standard long plate on the front, so we can speculate that the Transport Minister might have chosen to opt for sticker “plates” that are sold aftermarket but are not considered legal.

If you were wondering why he is so rich as to afford a Maserati, we will mention he owns a security exchange company. In our mind, driving without a plate for a short period of time would be a whole lot better than using fake ones. However, we have to applaud the Czech authorities for holding their leadership accountable for its actions.