100-MPH Speeders on Pace to Pass '92 Ticket Mark

By RICHARD SIMON

Oct. 18, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CHP Officer Gretchen Jacobs remembers the Honda driver zipping down the Glendale Freeway at 108 mph. “She was late to work.”

Officer Willie Haley remembers the motorcyclist speeding across the Southern California desert at 125. “It took about 35 miles to catch him.”

And Officer Chris Burch remembers the motorist celebrating the opening of the 105 Freeway by driving, well, 105. “He just wanted to see how fast he could go.”

Whether in a hurry, looking for a thrill or just plain crazy, California motorists are racing toward a five-year high for speeding tickets in excess of 100 mph.

And they’re paying a stiff price: a fine that could amount to $1,300 and often the loss of their driver’s license for 30 days.

Indeed, the law treats 100-mph-plus speeders differently and more severely than drivers caught speeding at, say, 99 mph.

This year the CHP ticketed 4,301 drivers through September for exceeding 100 mph--some even in the congested Los Angeles region. That puts the state on pace toward breaking the 5,290 tickets issued in 1992, the most in the last five years.

In Los Angeles County, officers issued 543 such tickets.

The CHP can’t say whether more drivers are breaking the 100-mph barrier, only that more are getting caught.

Officers now have more time to go after the worst lead foots now that they are no longer enforcing the 55-mph national speed limit, said a CHP spokesman.

Although representing only a fraction of the 636,000 speeding tickets issued statewide this year, 100-mph-plus drivers are seen as among the greatest road dangers. More motorists are stopped for exceeding that speed, but officers opt to cite them for reckless driving, which can result in jail time.

Officers don’t just find Corvette and Porsche drivers passing triple-digit speeds. They more commonly find Honda Accords, Ford Escorts, Volkswagen Jettas and other everyday cars.

And the high-speed drivers include men and women of all ages--sometimes with children in the car.

Drivers offer all kinds of excuses. They are trying out a new car or running late. CHP Officer Roland Barry said he stopped a 300ZX for speeding across the desert at 150 mph.

“His excuse was that his accelerator got stuck,” Barry said.

In Coalinga, a CHP spokeswoman was surprised to hear that a stretch of I-5 near the San Joaquin Valley town ranked No. 1 in the state with 83 speeding tickets issued last year to drivers exceeding 100 mph.

“We have sharp officers out there who have eagle eyes,” said Officer Jennifer Willett

In Southern California, the top spot for 100-mph-and-plus tickets was a long, downhill stretch of I-15 across the desert on the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Seventy-four tickets were issued there.

“It’s a very open stretch of highway,” said Barry, who enforces the speed law over the desert from an airplane. “Just coasting, the car is going to go very fast.”

In Los Angeles County, the top spot for 100 mph-and-plus tickets was I-5 just before it reaches the Grapevine. Sixty-nine tickets were issued last year.

CHP Officer Gabriel Sanchez thumbed through his ticket book and found several tickets he issued for exceeding 100 mph near the Grapevine during a recent month.

A black Ford Taurus for driving 103. “He said he didn’t know he was traveling that fast,” Sanchez said with a laugh. A Toyota Tercel for gunning it at 104. Two Mercedes for racing at 104.

Sanchez said the highest speeding ticket he issued was to a Ferrari driver, at 4 a.m., for driving 125 mph.

“I was a driving a Mustang, thank God, or else I wouldn’t have gotten him.”

While speeds in excess of 100 mph are less common in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, they can be found.

The CHP last year nabbed 17 drivers on a stretch of the San Gabriel River Freeway and 15 drivers on a section of the Long Beach Freeway for exceeding 100 mph.

Officer Bobby Laird remembers a woman driving a Camaro in the carpool lane on the Ventura Freeway on a Saturday morning at 104 mph--with her children in the back seat.

“Her justification for going that fast was that she took the day off and was running late to meet a party,” he said.

Last year, 4,369 drivers lost their licenses for up to 30 days for exceeding 100 mph, 43 lost their licenses for six months on their second conviction within three years for exceeding 100 mph, and four lost their licenses for one year on their third conviction within five years, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“Evidently, people get deterred from doing it again,” DMV spokesman Evan Nossoff said.

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Top Speedways

Here are 1995’s top spots for tickets issued for speeds in excess of 100 mph.

California

1. Interstate 5: Fresno County, California 198 to California 33 (83 tickets)

2. Interstate 10: Riverside County, Cabazon to California 62 (77 tickets)

3. Interstate 5: Fresno County, California 33 to Panoche Road (74 tickets)

4. Interstate 15: San Bernardino County, California 127 to Halloran Summit (74 tickets)

5. Interstate 5: California 138 to Kern County line (69 tickets)

Los Angeles County

1. Golden State Freeway: California 138 to Kern County line (69 tickets)