HOLDEN, Maine — A motorcyclist from Hampden was charged with criminal speeding early Friday morning after a police officer clocked him traveling more than 30 mph faster than the speed limit on U.S. Route 1A, according to Police Chief Gene Worcester.
Officer Bruce Graybill stopped a motorcycle driven by Pedro Rodriguez, 42, after he “observed the motorcycle passing him at a high rate of speed, heading north,” at about 4:25 a.m., Worcester said Friday afternoon.
The officer used radar to determine that the bike was going 77 mph in a 45-mph zone, according to Worcester.
Rodriguez was summoned and charged with criminal speeding and failure to produce evidence of insurance, Worcester said.
Rodriguez is scheduled to appear in court on July 12.
Ouch that is going to be a big fine!
And dont forget the surcharge. The fee they assess to cover the cost of taking your money from your hand into theirs.
I remember the rush of speed (and not realizing how fast you’re going) on a bike, but after a crash, it wasn’t as much fun. Glad he was stopped before he smeared himself.
BDN wouldn’t post my first comment. This guy had crashed his hurtling weapon into a car full of innocents and he’d have some ‘splainin to do…what a no-mind. I am glad he was stopped before he smeared innocents. 77 through Holden? 110 feet per second. Really you didn’t know how fast you were going? Shouldn’t be driving if that’s the case. End of story.
BDN has a propensity to not even let you know whether it’s removed or under review.
Not knowing Holden, I can’t say if there wasn’t enough traffic at that time of day to think it’s OK, but I can and will say:
Kill yourself if you don’t care about you or the ones you leave behind. That’s selfish.
You kill ANY ONE ELSE doing it, that’s manslaughter!
You seem to be qualifying things a bit. If you are driving negligently, how can it be alright no matter who you kill?
Because if somebody I don’t know acts recklessly and dies (or just decides to off themselves in any way), it doesn’t affect me. While I do say ‘it’s a waste and a shame’, I also ask myself if it ‘matters to me that RFK Jr’s wife hung herself in a barn’? I say ‘at least it wasn’t a murder-suicide’.
That’s my qualification for my ‘kill youself if you want, just don’t kill anybody else in the process’ attitude.
I may be apt to want to get out of Holden quickly as well. (said with sarcasm to clarify for those folks not in a joking mood right now)
Don’t even get the joke or the sarcasm. Holden is a beautiful, bucolic place. A bedroom community if ever there was one, with an elementary school right on Rt. 1A. Certainly not a place to see how fast your bike can go. Stupid is as stupid does.
yourmaineguy demonstrates a lack of understanding of Holden, Maine.
Don – been in/through Holden plenty, had many a brunch at the Lucerne Inn. I am quite certain the elementary school, just west of said Inn on Route 1A, did not have much activity around it at 4:25am. I completely understand though that does not qualify that road for a speedway. (I included this as you seem very literal). Loosen up a bit…..share a smile, does a body good.
going 85 mph while passing in dedham…perfectly acceptable
Serious 77 is fast it is interstate speed …but to give the guy a criminal record for it? He was if he was going 74 he would have been below the threshold of criminal speeding. Holden is a joke anyway, but that’s another story, as the taxpayers pay all the gasoline for them to take their cruisers home and shop at Walmart with all their kids in car and wife…but again give a little break route 1a is like the interstate early in the morning …no excuse but a criminal record..lol..nah
Yep. All a joke until the maroon speeding kills somebody besides themselves. What part of 110 feet per second and human reaction times don’t you understand?
Your pretty cool. And very wise. And a great example of the dumbing down of America.
Isnt there already a law in place that punish’s if someone is hurt or injured due to someones negligence? Minority Report (tom cruise) type justice,sure fire evidence of the stupidization of America. Prosecuting someone for something that MIGHT happen.
What I didn’t understand was “Maroon” we have all gone over the speed limit and with cars today and bikes a touch of the gas your doing 75 atleast the cars I buy do. I am not saying he was right. I am saying he deserves a hefty fine, which could be achieved without giving a person a criminal record, we are talking a few miles coming off the guns radar at the cops discretion. But of course Holden is Holden
Do some research, I believe his criminal record came long before his bike ride through Holden…If he hasn’t learned his lesson by now you gotta hit him hard
Fair enough. I will take your word that the officer did a criminal background on him beside the road because of his driving record. Or maybe he was “well known” I myself do not google each and every person on here prior to making a comment. It really does not mean that much to me..lol….but you may be correct and I will assume done your homework on this case, as well as many others =)
the officer didnt make the law jsut enforced it. A buddy of mine got busted in Holden 61 in 45 could have been worse
What’s that equation from sophomore physics? p=m*v? Motorcycle weighs 500 pounds. Traveling at 110 feet per second. How does that feel upon impact for the people who did not fill in the m and the v?
jeesh, everyone’s so judgmental,.
you mean it’s not cool to do 80 through town at 4:00 a.m in the morn?!
i thought everyone did it.
When are the cops gonna start cracking down on all of the motorcycles doing wheelies down the main streets? Speeding is bad enough but i had one ride up on my today that was doing a wheelie down Kenduskeag Avenue. Those are the times you just hope for a pothole.
Couldn’t agree more jc. How about the guys that pass you on I-95 at 85 mph with one wheel on the ground and one in the air?. Ever seen that display of machismo and skill? I have. The whole world is a playground for some folks who lack a functioning cerebrum.
Thats kinda weird. Hoping that a fellow human being hits a hole in the road which would more than likely lead to serious injury or death. And all because they are apparently doing something which “annoys” you,but other wise really has no direct effect on you? Angry at the world much?
If a rider is doing wheelies down a public roadway and they end up hitting a pothole and crashing I’m not going to feel any sort of sympathy for them. Why should I feel bad for someone else’s stupidity?
I do not consider riding a wheelie down a public road to be safe driving. He puts my life, and other drivers on the road’s lives in danger every time he pulls a stunt like this because he can easily go out of control and cause a major accident. Therefore your analogy that this has no effect on my would be false. As far as me being angry at the world…Nope, just certain aspects of it:)
I would be angry with him as well. Angry because I would not WANT to look in my mirror and see his body torn to shreds when he hit the pot hole. I certainly wouldn’t WISH it upon him!
I have to sit here every year during the warmer months to hear people revving the engines on their motorcycles. One night, I had to hear someone racing up and down the section of Ohio Street I live near during the late hours of the night. I agree… WHEN ARE the police going to start cracking down on people causing a disturbance on their on their bikes? I’m just tired of hearing the noise when I’m trying to relax.
You would have enjoyed looking in your rear-view mirror and watching him a pot hole and hurt, possibly kill, himself? Seriously???
Legal, obviously i would not want to see anyone get hurt, and i believe you and the other poster took what i said a bit too seriously, but it is rediculous how these race rockets drive down regular streets and then have the audacity to complain that cars are not paying enough attention towards them. I wasnt joking when i said that someone drove a wheelie right up on the back of my truck the other day on Kenduskeag avenue. Just seeing that coming up on your is enough to cause you to take your eyes off the road. These idiots need to leave that crap to the stunt tracks or race tracks….Not on the main roads we all need to drive on.
Several years ago there was a terrible accident on Broadway with a yahoo riding a race rocket so fast and doing wheelies, he lost control and hit drove str8 into a pickup truck driven by a good friend of mine. When he went flying through the air he was cut in half by the stop sign that he hit, leaving a widow and a child without a father. No i dont want to see this, but it amazes me that even after these types of stories we still read about more idiodicy from these people every day. They dont think of what the others on the road will have to live with by viewing it.
You know what? You’re right and I do apologize for taking you seriously. It just truly seemed harsh, but I see now that you were just angry and you do have every right to be. I myself am a motorcyclist and have shaken my head so many times at the way some folks drive. Truth is, we as motorcycle drivers ALSO have an obligation to ASSUME that every car will pull out in front of us and protect ourselves. To be honest, I rarely have people pull out in front of me. I wear a hot pink jacket on the cooler days and a bright orange t-shirt in hot weather. It is also our obligation to make sure we are visible.
My son also witnessed a motorcycle accident (he was on his motorcycle and came up behind another cyclist). The cyclist became obviously impatient waiting to turn at an intersection. My son said he actually gasped when the cyclist decided to take off like a lightning bolt because my son said there was NO way that cyclist could have seen if a car was coming in the 2nd lane of the other direction because of a large truck. Sure enough, there was a truck coming. My son quickly jumped off his bike and ran over to make sure the cyclist didn’t move (fearing broken spine) and stayed with him until EMTs arrived. I guess part of me was glad that my 20-year-old son was there (despite my being sad that it happened). He has taken his crotch rocket riding far more serious since.
Not a very bright fellow at 42. That being said, all of you motorcycle haters, we don’t ALL act that crazy, we don’t all rev our engines, some of us just ride slowly and quietly for the pleasure and relaxation, so don’t judge us all based on a few. This guy made a choice that could have cost him his life or, possibly, the life of someone else trying to avoid hitting him when he “lost it.”