They speed across the Courtney Campbell or down Highway 19 in Clearwater doing well over 100 miles an hour.
Motorcycle riders who insist on going that fast, are being targeted by police, who are taking riders directly to jail.
“Drivers don’t realize there’s a 135 mile an hour missile coming at them. There’s just no way that they could even avoid that” said Rob Shaw with the Clearwater Police Department.
This past weekend, 4 men got busted for speeding on motorcycles, among others.
Clearwater Police clocked Shane Dugan at 135 miles an hour.
George Kindinis at 123.
Jeremy Grech, also at 123.
And Forrest Ellico at 93.
He wasn’t home when we stopped by his apartment. But his crotch rocket sat out front.
“We’re obviously concerned about their safety and well being, but what they don’t realize, I don’t think, is, they’re putting at risk the lives of others,” said the Clearwater Police Department’s Rob Shaw.
“All it does is endanger all of us. And it makes a bad image for the motorcyclists out there” said Curtis Palmore who runs the Motorcycle Rider Education Center of Clearwater.
He enjoys cross-country trips on his Honda. Seeing speeding riders makes him angry. “If you feel the need for that kind of speed in recklessness, go do a track day. In Florida, there are 4 or 5 tracks that offer this” said Palmore.
When Clearwater Police spot a speeding rider, then have a strict rule.
“We absolutely do not go in pursuit because then we’re doing the same thing they are and we don’t want to put innocent lives at risk,” said Shaw.
2 of the 4 men busted over the weekend are accused of trying to get away from officers. That brings their charges up to a felony.
All 4 got a 1-way ticket to jail.
