"I am running late for work."
This is not an excuse for driving 186km/h in a posted 80km/h zone on Airport RD.
This 33 year old Meaford man will be walking for the next 30 days. ^af
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Flashbacks!
This is exactly the speed I was tagged at on Hwy 7 westbound, east of Perth, back in the late '90s. I was also 21, not 33.
Was working temporarily in Ottawa M-F, living in Toronto, and would head back every Friday evening on my Hawk GT (fantastic tourer - tank range of 200km before I tuned it and made it worse). On this particular evening, I'd had a late start, and (unusual for the time) bad traffic getting out of Ottawa. There was also a thunderstorm forecast for Toronto around the time I was due to arrive, which I wanted to beat.
As soon as I cleared the traffic and got into the wide open straight stretches past Carleton Place, I was WFO on the throttle. Before the tune, the Hawk would do an indicated 135 mph (US bike), or roughly 215kmh, no idea about true speed.
So I'm doing my best impression of a cafe racer chasing the ton when I crest a rise to see a line of traffic coming the other way, the usual plug with a slowpoke up front. I roll off the throttle, wary of impatient passers, and just as I pass the pack, I notice a cruiser lurking in the middle, and he flicks on his lights and pulls a U-turn in behind me as I pass. Now I know I'm in trouble.
I did briefly think about doing a runner, but that's not really my style, and I didn't know the area at all. After reaching the obvious conclusion that the odds of that ending much worse for me were astronomically high, I pull over, take the keys out and drop them performatively on the ground, and wait. The cop seems very amused by the whole situation, verging on impressed. He even invites me back to his cruiser to excitedly show me the 186 on the radar, telling me I'm the highest speed he's caught all year. Needless to say, I'm a little less thrilled by the whole thing.
I get a ticket for 50+ over, along with a dangerous driving charge. This is before the street racing hysteria, so I'm allowed to proceed on my way, doing a sheepish indicated 79 kph on the nose for the duration to Toronto. Of course, I get absolutely drenched in that rainstorm.
I ended up hiring an ex-cop paralegal, recommended by a parts guy at an Ottawa dealership I'd gotten to know who had a history stunting tickets. Best money I've ever spent, as he went to court for me three time in Perth, got the dangerous driving ticket dismissed, and had the speeding ticket reduced to 49 over, which meant I could keep my (already very expensive) insurance. This was a big deal for me at the time, as I had no car, only the bike, and losing insurance would have been catastrophic. In exchange, I had to donate $1000 or so to CHEO, the Ottawa children's hospital. I did so happily.
Apologies for the lengthy trip down memory lane, but seeing that photo of the red '186' on the cruiser dash gave me a small chill down my spine. Swap that sh*tbox car with a metallic grey Honda Hawk GT with bar-end mirrors, and that could have been taken 25+ years ago of me...
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