This Is The Fastest Speeding Ticket Ever Issued In Minnesota History
If you've ever exceeded the speed limit while behind the wheel here in Minnesota, I'm just going to guess you weren't going as fast as THIS driver was.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety has been noting an alarming increase in speeding over the past few years. The pandemic year of 2020 was particularly intense when it came to aggressive driving and speeding here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, with some tragic results:
The Minnesota State Patrol issued more than 1,068 speeding tickets for speeds of 100 mph or more in 2020, compared with 533 tickets for those excessive speeds in 2019. Speed was a primary contributor in the jump from 364 traffic deaths on Minnesota roads in 2019 to the preliminary figure of 395 in 2020.
But even those alarming numbers don't come close to the FASTEST speeding ticket ever issued here in Minnesota. For that incredible number, you have to go back well before we'd even heard of the pandemic.
According to this USA Today story, you have to head back in time nearly 20 years, to September 18th, 2004. That's when a State Patrol trooper clocked then-20-year-old Samuel Armstrong Tilley of flying down Highway 61 near Wabasha at an unbelievably eye-popping speed:
And he did it on two wheels, too. This Fox News story says Tilley was riding a Honda CBR 1000RR 'superbike' motorcycle when it hit that unbelievable speed. He was clocked by State Trooper pilot Al Loney and eventually cited for 'reckless driving, driving without a motorcycle license and driving 140 mph over the posted speed limit of 65,' the story said.
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While being incredibly dangerous, it's also unofficially the highest speed that any driver has been clocked at while on the roads here in the North Star State.
'By all accounts, this is probably the fastest speed we've ever caught anyone,' Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in the Fox News Story. 'It's astonishing, even for the most seasoned state trooper.'
In case you're curious, in addition to being extremely dangerous, going that fast is also a hazard to your checking account. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says the cost of speeding will typically cost you more than $110 (including court fees) if you're caught traveling 10 mph over the limit. Fines double if you're caught going 20 mph over the limit, and you can lose your license for six months for going 100 mph faster than the posted speed limit.
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