Swift justice: Porsche driver is ticketed for 133 mph on the 101 Freeway
A Porsche driver in Northern California was ticketed by the California Highway Patrol over Memorial Day weekend for allegedly reaching speeds of up to 133 mph on Highway 101, and Facebook respondents had plenty of suggestions for swift justice.
Jail the driver. Impound the car. Suspend the driver's license.
The ticket was issued May 26, a Sunday morning, on the northbound 101 Freeway at Lytton Springs near the Sonoma Wine Country town of Healdsburg.
The posted speed limit is 65 miles per hour.
Read more: New cars in California could alert drivers for breaking the speed limit
The CHP division in Santa Rosa posted images of parts of the ticket on Facebook as a warning that the agency was being extra vigilant over the holiday weekend.
"Omg, please tell me you towed that vehicle!!" commented one reader of the Facebook post.
"No jail? Wow!" responded another reader.
But David Derutte, CHP Public Information Officer, confirmed the driver was not arrested, nor was the vehicle impounded. He didn't disclose what fine the driver faced.
“That kind of speed, going that fast is pretty rare but we do see it, for sure,” he said. “I would imagine that’s the fastest that officer has seen.”
The CHP's Facebook post showed parts of the ticket. The infraction for drivers going over 100 mph opens the individual to a wide range of penalties.
A first-time offender can be fined up to $500, with a court potentially suspending driving privileges for up to 30 days. Drivers with previous speeding infractions are subject to higher fines and longer suspensions.
Read more: Speed cameras: California's answer to rising traffic deaths?
The driver was pulled over during one of the CHP’s “Maximum Enforcement Periods,” or holiday periods in which the department increases vehicle patrols.
“We have a handful of those weekends, like the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving, where there’s just a lot more of us out there,” Derutte said.
The arresting officer employed a handheld LIDAR, or Light and Detection Ranging, device to track the driver.
LIDAR shoots a beam at an object and measures distance traveled over time, according to the Department of Justice.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
