SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A warning for drivers, beware the super speeders. They're the drivers, police say, who are going above 80 miles per hour on the highway!
In many cases, going 20 mph over the speed limit and the issue is even worse right now, on GA 400 right after the construction zone.
“The construction has created more traffic and then once they get through it, they just floor it,” Sandy Springs Police Sgt. Matt McGinnis said about the stretch of roadway around GA400 just past 285.
McGinnis said it has become the breading ground of speeders. Among them – a man who McGinnis said was recently arrested for driving more than 50 mph above the speed limit.
“We had a subject that was traveling approximately 120 mph and at that rate of speed, the end result can be absolutely horrific," he said. "The man was arrested and charged with reckless driving but for many who frequent the area the problem is much bigger than one person."
“Usually the average speed is about 80 and if I’m not going 80, then I feel like I’m just under pressure. People roll up behind me really close,” resident Jothanye Ownes said.
Another resident Malu Fiuca echoed similar thoughts.
“People speeding, I’m always in the slow lane and I’m just terrified because if you go slow they're just pushing you, honking at you," Fiuca said.
Georgia State Patrol and Sandy Springs Police say they are actively monitoring the area for speeders and are encouraging people to slow down.
"It seems like fun, it seems like a good idea, you don’t see any police sitting out on the road, so you try to floor it and make up that extra time that you feel like you’ve lost but the reality is far too often we have accidents that involve speeds like that and the results are disastrous, from major injuries, all the way up to fatalities,” McGinnis added.
The most recent traffic fatality data released by the Georgia Department of Transportation shows Fulton County had more than 31 traffic fatalities in 2021, which resulted from speeding.