The Need For Speed

June 02, 2009
Contact: Elise Schaffer, PIO Phone: (608) 284-6142 Email: schaffer@co.dane.wi.us
Sheriff's Office

With recent fatal traffic crashes on US Highway 51, State Highway 69, and other potentially deadly incidents encountered by Dane County Sheriff’s Deputies, the Sheriff’s Office wants to remind motorist that operating a vehicle at a high rate of speed can have deadly consequences. Just last week, a Dane County traffic team deputy stopped an 18-year-old male from Stoughton traveling at 120 mph in a 65 mph zone. The stop occurred on HWY 14 near Byrne in Fitchburg. He had a young female passenger, much like the fatal crash that had occurred just days before on US Highway 51 in the town of Dunn. Both occupants were wearing seatbelts, but deputies warn that at such a high rate of speed, if a crash had occurred, seatbelts may not have saved them. In another recent incident, a deputy stopped a driver in the town of Sun Prairie traveling 115 MPH in a 55 mph zone. These extreme speeds put not only the occupants of those vehicles at high risk, but anyone who may encounter them on the roadway is a potential target. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, in 2008 there were 27,311 speed related crashes on our state’s highways. Those crashes resulted in 187 deaths and 11,223 injuries. This is why the Dane County Sheriff’s Office continues to make traffic education and enforcement a high priority…it saves lives. ###