https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local ... 0089b9995dDALLAS – When you picture Texas highways, you might think of gas-guzzling pickups taking up valuable real estate in the fast lane.
And you’re not wrong. But, according to a newly-published list, you can also picture sports cars and motorcycles speeding rather egregiously.
A website called The Drive – taking inspiration from the Houston Chronicle in years past – dug up the fastest speeding tickets doled out to Texas drivers in 2018, and the list includes some pretty staggering numbers.
There were 228 tickets written for Texans going 120 mph or faster between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, according to Texas Department of Public Safety information obtained by The Drive, which published the top 50.
Here are some of the highlights:
North Texas is heavily represented in the top 50
North Texans like to go fast. Our area saw 13 of the top 50 speeding tickets, including one driver caught flying at 156 mph in a 70 mph zone on the Chisholm Trail Parkway in Fort Worth on Aug. 20 – good for the fifth-fastest ticket in the state last year.
Just over a month earlier, a driver of a Ford F-150 somehow got his or her pickup to go 150 mph in a 65 mph zone on the same highway.
Feb. 25 was a big day for North Texas speeders. In what appears to be a street-racing bust, three different motorcycles were stopped at 2:24 p.m. for going 139 mph in a 70 mph zone on US 377 in Hood County.
The total number of North Texas speeding violations seen in the top 50 by county: Hood (4), Collin (3), Tarrant (2), Dallas (2), Rockwall (1) and Ellis (1).
Someone got busted going 105 mph over the limit
Somebody was in a hurry doing some Christmas returns… At 10:50 a.m. on Dec. 26, a Suzuki motorcycle was caught doing 140 mph in a 35 mph zone near La Grange in Fayette County. In addition to more than tripling the speed limit, police also allegedly found a marijuana pipe in that motorcycle rider’s backpack.
The excuses
Many of the 228 entries in the DPS spreadsheet read “null” under the trooper notes. Many, though, logged the driver’s reason for speeding. Some alleged to have family or medical emergencies.
Some of our favorites among the others:
• A Travis County speeder caught going 137 mph in May pleaded to the trooper that he was, in fact, only going 130 mph.
• The driver of a Mitsubishi clocked at 122 mph in a 60 mph zone on the Dallas North Tollway in Collin County last May told the trooper he was upset because someone cut him off.
• A woman doing 123 mph on a Montgomery County highway in December told the trooper she was running late taking her daughter to the DMV to get a driver’s license.
• A McLennan County driver doing 126 in a 65 said he was tired after working a five-hour shift.
• The driver of a Honda Civic speeding at 123 mph in Coryell County in July said he or she was trying to get away from a white car.
• The driver of a Honda Accord busted doing 125 in a 75 in February told the trooper a white Dodge Charger was behind him “playing around with him.”
• A Corvette was allegedly "messing with" a Travis County driver in March, causing said driver to go 141 mph in an 80 mph zone.
• The driver of an Audi A4 caught doing 122 mph in a 75 mph zone in Brazos County in May said he thought he was only doing 110 mph.
• The driver of a Volkswagen doing 125 in a 55 in El Paso County claimed to have been provoked to go that fast.
• A guy in Leander who managed to get his 1989 motorcycle up to 127 mph claimed he was late for work and that the speedometer on his bike was broken.
InTexas when you feel the need for speed watch out.
1Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,
from Kentucky!