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Published on Wednesday, December 22, 2004
in the Palm Beach Post
Trendy in flip-flops and hair gel and looking for a thrill behind the wheel of a fast car, Evan Whelan was everything law enforcement was looking for Monday night ¯ an aggressive driver.
It was the first of two evenings of Staying Alive on 95, an unprecedented program organized by state Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, and the Florida Highway Patrol. A phalanx of officers from 16 other agencies from Miami-Dade to St. Lucie County helped patrol Interstate 95 and other state roads Monday and Tuesday nights in an effort to quell aggressive driving.
As the 26-year-old Whelan tested the limits of his lead foot, his speed climbing 20, 30 then at least 40 miles per hour over the limit as he raced another car down a busy street, trooper Kevin Strickland spotted them. Strickland said he clocked them at 90 in a 45-mph zone on Southwest 10th Street in northern Broward County.
Whelan said he wasn't going that fast. He and the teenage girl in a souped-up Honda Civic didn't know each other and hadn't planned to drag race. It just happened when he saw her driving fast.
"I was trying to match her speed," he said. "It's fun."
Such antics are common and dangerous, the scourge of modern roadways, officials say.
"These streets are their tracks," trooper Paul Rich said.
Rich knows the consequences of aggressive driving ¯ not just speeding, but haphazard lane changing, tailgating and other such careless behavior. He has seen the broken bodies and the stricken faces of parents when they find out their children have been killed or maimed on the highway.
On Monday night, Rich saw his first aggressive driver a moment after entering the highway at Glades Road. A silver Chevrolet Tracker weaved in and out of traffic. Using his unmarked Mercury Marauder as a pace car, Rich drove behind the Chevrolet, clocking his own speed at 85 mph. He pulled the 46-year-old Illinois man over and issued a $205.50 ticket for speeding and improper lane change.
"It's a minor price to pay when you think that someone might lose control of their vehicle at that speed and a fatality results," Rich said.
It wasn't his easiest catch. That happened back in April when Rich was sitting in an unmarked patrol car, a red Mustang, when another driver in a souped-up Civic pulled up next to him and revved his engine, egging him to race.
"I leaned forward in my seat so he could see my uniform," Rich said.
But the guy didn't see it and hit the gas. Rich kept up with him to clock his speed, and ended up ticketing him for driving 120 mph in a 45-mph zone.
"They make it easy for me," he said.