I-485 crackdown nabs more than 2,100 speeders, with some topping 100 mph
A nearly month-long crackdown on Interstate 485 has netted more than 2,100 speeders, the N.C. Highway Patrol told the Observer this week.
A majority of the speeders were traveling more than 15 mph over the 70 mph speed limit, the highway patrol said. And some were driving in excess of 100 mph.
The Highway Patrol launched the enforcement operation last month on the heels of several high-speed wrecks on Charlotte’s outerbelt, including one that killed five people.
Since the beginning of 2018, wrecks on I-485 have killed 25 people and injured about 1,400 more, Highway Patrol figures show.
The I-485 enforcement action, which ran from July 20 to Aug. 14, resulted in 3,800 citations — 2,180 of them for speeding, according to data provided to the Observer by the Highway Patrol.
Among those cited: 1,088 drivers traveling 16-to-25 miles over the speed limit, and 164 who were going more than 25 miles over the speed limit, the Highway Patrol reported. That would put them at 95 mph or faster.
The vast majority of those in the highest speed category were traveling more than 100 mph, according to Trooper Raymond Pierce, of the Highway Patrol.
“Every day, we were seeing several over 100,” Pierce said. “It just got to be that high speeds were commonplace out there.”
The enforcement operation also resulted in speeding tickets for more than 900 other drivers, and reckless driving citations for more than 660 drivers.
On the first day of the crackdown, troopers cited 91 drivers for exceeding the speed limit, far surpassing the average number of tickets issued on I-485 last year, according to an Observer analysis of State Highway Patrol data.
Last year, for instance, troopers issued an average of seven citations a day to drivers accused of going 16 mph to 25 mph over the limit, according to the Observer’s analysis of State Highway Patrol data.
Trooper recovering
Since the novel coronavirus pandemic erupted, some drivers have taken advantage of crowded highways to travel at excessive speeds, law enforcement officials say.
On July 3, authorities say, a driver who was traveling 120 mph slammed into a box truck on I-485 in north Charlotte.
That sent the truck careening into the opposite lanes of traffic, causing crashes that killed a family of four from Belmont: Matthew Obester, his wife, Andrea, and their two daughters, 12-year-old Elizabeth and 9-year-old Violet. The wreck also killed Mark Barlaan, of Indian Trail.
Trooper Adolfo Lopez-Alcedo was also critically injured while shutting down the highway so the Highway Patrol could investigate that crash.
Lopez-Alcedo was transferred last week from the hospital to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta to complete his rehabilitation, Pierce said. The Shepherd Center specializes in medical treatment for people with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and other neuromuscular conditions.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
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