Early Tuesday, state trooper Chris Haynes stopped two motorcyclists on Interstate 459 near U.S. 280. One was going 167 mph and the other 165 mph.

Also Tuesday morning, state trooper Sgt. Tim Sartain stopped a woman for going 90 mph on Interstate 65 in north Jefferson County. She said she was late for work.

Danger and death on the highways were the main reasons Gov. Bob Riley announced a statewide crackdown on speeding last week. Alabama is on a pace for 1,300 highway fatalities this year, about 300 more than a year ago. Friday, on the first day of the crackdown, troopers wrote 579 tickets within 12 hours on I-65.

State troopers across the state say they are seeing more speeders, including super-charged motorcycles capable of speeds up to 180 mph.

A few days ago, a trooper on U.S. 231 near Ozark clocked a motorcyclist going 130 mph. When he tried to pull the cyclist over, the cyclist took off, hit a car and lost an arm in the wreck.

The I-459 cyclists were ticketed for reckless driving just after midnight. If convicted, they could serve five to 90 days in jail or pay fines of $25 to $500.

Under Alabama law, state troopers cannot arrest a motorist for a traffic violation. An arrest can be made only if a driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, is a suspected felon, has failed to appear in court or is involved in a wreck that causes injury or death.

Chasing the super-cycles is not always worth it, state trooper Cpl. Spencer Collier of Mobile said.

"My dealings with the motorcycles is that about one out of three is going to run when you try to stop them. Pursuing them is too dangerous. It is not worth somebody dying over it," he said.

A motorcyclist once popped a wheelie in front of Collier's patrol car. "It's almost to a point where they try to antagonize law enforcement," he said.

Troopers say the safety of other motorists and themselves comes into play when deciding whether to chase a speeder.

"It's aggravating at times. We don't want to let anybody get away, but if it is safer, we do. It's a tough call to make," Collier said.

In 2003, 51 people were killed and 949 injured in motorcycle wrecks in Alabama.

Collier, also a state legislator, said a bill to make it a felony to attempt to elude a police officer has failed in the Legislature.

"Alabama is one of the few states where all you can do is write a ticket," he said.

 

In my little part of Northern California, the CHP announced and enforced a zero tolerance for speeding on a local highway (California 49 between here and Auburn). They ticket for as little as 1 mph over the limit. I still see cars flying by on I-80 between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, and I see lots of them pulled over.

I love the "late for work" excuse. It doesn't work, and it makes you even later. I think it was on Stangnet where I read about a guy who was late and driving like the proverbial bat out of Hades, doing something like 120 in a school zone. He spent a couple of days in jail, got his license revoked, had his car confiscated and paid a huge fine to boot. He also lost his job.

He should have gotten out of bed when his alarm went off.

 

I was driving from Va Beach to Richmond on time in my 95 pony. A guy passed me doing 95mph. Being young and foolish, I caught up to him and we were going for a while. Then a lady in a volvo cut me off. But then she picked up and all three of us where doing 95 on I64. It was going good until someone cut the volvo and me off. We slowed down and less then three minutes later we saw the first guy pulled over by the State Troopers. :cop2: I had a chance to look at the Volve lady and wiped my brow and sighed.

Lucky me. Haven't gone above 80mph since.

 

Keep it on the track. Stupid people.

 

I know you have had to be on 65 with these fools before- On their little crotch rockets.
I don't know if it was the same eejits, but I see them often weaving in and out- I don't know how they stay alive- driving on the white middle line and everything.

As for the tickets I have been pulled over many times, ticketed none. Actually, the last time I got pulled over- I was going 85 in a 55 and slowed down to 70 to take a curve, the man got me, and let me out of it because I must have been having a good day. Works for me.

 

So wait, in bama, you cant get arrested for speeding that much? Seems like everywhere else if you are doing double the posted speed limit you get your license taken away, is that not true down there?

 

Well, until this past weekend, you could pretty much use the roads as your own personal speedway. 25 over the limit only got a ticket for $160 (60 in a 35). Now the Billy Bob Riley is angry, and we can't speed anymore.

This is the law, but I don't see it enforced:

Section 32-5A-190
Reckless driving.
(a) Any person who drives any vehicle carelessly and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard for the rights or safety of persons or property, or without due caution and circumspection and at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property, shall be guilty of reckless driving.

(B) Every person convicted of reckless driving shall be punished upon a first conviction by imprisonment for a period of not less than five days nor more than 90 days, or by fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $500.00, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and on a second or subsequent conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 10 days nor more than six months, or by a fine of not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and the court may prohibit the person so convicted from driving a motor vehicle on the public highways of this state for a period not exceeding six months, and the license of the person shall be suspended for such period by the Director of Public Safety pursuant to Section 32-5A-195.

© Neither reckless driving nor any other moving violation under this chapter is a lesser included offense under a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

 

stupid people, i wouldn't even go 160 MPH on the strip. just too much.

 

I see nothing wrong with testing the speed of your vehicle as long as you're the only one who can get injured from it. If you are on a stretch of highway you know is safe and will have zero traffic, why not? Unless you're a complete moron and know your vehicle can't handle high speeds, it should be fine. But, to speed that fast weaving in and out of traffic is nearly as bad as manslaughter, to me. Having fun coupled with total disregard for innocent human life should be punished severely.

 

160 on the strip?

Wow! I can't even break 100!

You hiding a 8-9 second car, Matt?

 

I agree. I am not one of those people weaving in and out if I am speeding. I do it on open roads. And if I change lanes, I use my signal and make sure there is enough room.

I can accept a ticket, but not an accident/injuries.

 

Too bad. These idiots give us "sportbike riders" a bad name. :notnice:

Again, keep it at the track (whether it's the 1320 or a track day on a road course).

 

I agree. I am not one of those people weaving in and out if I am speeding. I do it on open roads. And if I change lanes, I use my signal and make sure there is enough room.

I can accept a ticket, but not an accident/injuries. [/b][/quote]
I think they passed a law in California prohibiting the use of turn signals, because I seem to be the only one who uses them.

I usually drive at pretty much the speed limit, except on runs on I-5 between Northern and Southern California where the fastest cars seem to be little old ladies in Accords doing 90+.

I had a pretty quick trip from San Francisco to Idaho about 10 years ago with a friend in her BMW 325i. Saw 130 on a very lonely stretch of road in Nevada. The car was incredibly smooth and quiet and rock steady, much more so than my Mustang the one time I did it. But I think it was more the fear of the consequences of being stopped that made me back off.

I was tooling along an autoroute in France a few years ago, driving a rented Renault Twingo at about 140 kph when a yellow Ferrari passed me at about twice my pace. He was nuts, since traffic was moderate to heavy. I saw the car a little bit down the raod, wrapped around a tree.

I think I'm getting old.

 

180 on a crotch rocket?

hats pretty darn low, most respectable sport bikes will run 9's out of the box.

 

Slightly off ytopic, but I always loved this story about the winner of the 1995 Darwin Awards.....(Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it. )..




Jet Assisted Take-Off
1995 Darwin Awards Winner

The Arizona Highway Patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.

The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was, and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.

It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) unit. JATO units are solid fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for take-off from short airfields.

Dried desert lakebeds are the location of choice for breaking the world ground vehicle speed record. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high speed, and fired off the rocket.

The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:

The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.

The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.

Most of the driver's remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

 

180 would be quite difficult to reach on the streets....just not enough room. While, sure, you can hit 140-150 fairly quick, once you get up into that speed range, it takes quite awhile to gain each mph after that. Myself, when I was young and stupid, hit 165-170 range quite a few times on my GSXR1100, but it wasn't all that easy to do (or find a long enough stretch to do it).

As far as respectible bikes running 9's stock, only a couple break into the 9's and they are high 9's at that. Most sportbikes (from 600cc to big bore) are in the low 10- low 11 second range. Plus, sportbikes are sooooo much more about handling and the curves than they are about straightline performance.