The new 90: 100-mph speeders plague police on I-5
By Andrea Damewood The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com
Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The guy on the motorcycle thought he was in for a good race.

He'd been cruising at about 100 mph on Belt Line Road for a few miles,
and stopped in front of a 2002 Camaro at a red light at Roosevelt
Boulevard. After checking for cops, he revved his engines and sped
off, hoping the Camaro would give chase.

It did.

But inside the unmarked sports car was state police Senior Trooper
Jamin Van Meter, whose radar clocked him going 110 mph.

Matching the man's speed to catch him was a bit of an adrenaline rush,
Van Meter said, and it's a feeling that's become more common over the
past decade. Police say 100 mph has become the new 90.

Officers say they've seen speeds in the area go up by about 15 mph in
the past 15 years.

"I've had days when I've cited four people going over 100 mph," said
Van Meter, an eight-year veteran with the state police. "Everybody
who's driven I-5 has definitely had their doors blown off by somebody
going really fast."

Last year, despite stiffer penalties, the number of tickets handed to
people who hit triple-digit speeds went up by 16 percent over the
previous year, according to state police enforcement statistics.

In 2006, 537 drivers were caught topping 100 mph, up from 464 in 2005,
police said. The most common culprits were males between ages 15 and
24.

"It looks like they're just screaming," Van Meter said. "Nowadays,
with how cars are constructed, people just go faster."

The stretch of I-5 between Eugene and Cottage Grove is one of the most
common areas statewide for lead-footed drivers to go full throttle,
police said.

South of Eugene, commuter traffic thins, and speeders have room to
fly, Van Meter said.

"You can sit there on a weekend, and you'll get tons of 90s and at
least one over 100," he said. "It's been really productive as far as
catching speeders down there."

The fastest speeder Van Meter has clocked was a motorcyclist doing 128
just north of Creswell. Last week, he cited a driver going 101 mph
near Cottage Grove.

But it's not just super speeders who open it up on that segment of
highway. According to data collected from state Department of
Transportation speed monitors buried under the pavement, the average
speeds recorded there are the highest among the 14 speed monitors on
Oregon's interstate highways.

In the second week of August, the average speed was 72.6 mph - 7.6 mph
above the 65 mph speed limit - and the fastest drivers averaged 79.6
mph.

Though crash rates along I-5 between Eugene and Cottage Grove are not
on the rise, ODOT data show that in the past five years, speed was a
factor in about 65 percent of all accidents on the highway.

Speed increases the amount of time it takes to react to trouble ahead,
requires more time to stop and amplifies any mistakes drivers make,
Van Meter said.

Above 100 mph, the chances of dying in an accident also go up
exponentially, he said.

In an effort to curb climbing rates of super speeders, state lawmakers
passed a law slamming triple-digit speeders with fines of up to $1,103
and a license suspension of 30 to 90 days.

Though the law went into effect Jan. 1, 2006, the number of people who
have been caught going over 100 mph since that time has increased.

Only two or three state troopers from the Springfield offices are on
duty at any given time, said Lt. Mike Bloom, and traffic patrol takes
a backseat to emergency calls.

The only solution, he said, is to have enough police on the roads to
make speeders aware that they could be busted.

"The reality is, when (drivers) see a state policeman, they know
they're not going to see another one for 15 to 20 miles, if at all,"
Bloom said. "You can impose a stiff citation all you want, but if you
don't have any troopers, there's no deterrent. We can't legislate our
way into getting people to slow down."
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- gpsman