Published on Thursday, May 10, 2007
in the WESH News

Number Of Speeders, Crashes Increasing

Police say speeding is the cause for most of the accidents in Florida.

Two people were killed and six others were hurt in a collision on the Beachline Tuesday, WESH 2 News reported.

Investigators said the driver of a red Mustang was going more than 120 mph, crossed the median and hit a van and a car.

The drivers of both cars were killed.

Police said the number of speeders is rising, and they are trying to stop those reckless drivers.

"It will continue to be a problem," Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Ed Lohman said.

Lohman said he has had to drive faster than ever to catch up with speeders.

One speeder flew by at 95 mph and another 91 mph, earning the second speeder a $210 ticket.

Damian Rolle said he is going to slow down because he can't afford another ticket.

Officers said drivers pushing 100 mph or faster is not only more common, but it is leading to more crashes.

"You can be a very good driver, and something fails at that speed. It's not only you; it's other people that are going to be caught up in your mess," Lohman said.

Statistics show that more and more drivers are speeding. In 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available, 64,000 speeding tickets were written in Orange County alone. That was 20 percent more than the previous year.

Lohman's subpoenas show the dozen drivers he has ticketed for going over 100 mph during the month of April. He said the mandatory court appearance typically ends in a fine.

Many drivers said that police should treat excessive speeding like drunken driving.

"Maybe it's a misdemeanor, and maybe you've got to spend a week in jail or something," driver Robert Ortner said.

"Obviously they don't care about paying the ticket and losing their money, so maybe if they had to pay a real penalty they'd care," truck driver Mike Lucas said.

A lot of attention has been given to the crackdown on drivers who run red lights, but the statistics show twice as many drivers are speeding, rather than running red lights.