If you’re going to drive 150 mph, don’t do it on a public road with a bad record of fatal crashes, in the middle of the night, with police lights in your mirrors. And maybe, just maybe, don’t do it in a Ford Mustang. Those things don’t have the best record when it comes to reckless driving, even at slow speeds.
An “older model” Mustang was going 140 mph just after midnight on Interstate 70 Friday, near Glenwood Springs, Colorado and about 160 miles from Denver, according to The Denver Post. That’s when troopers turned on lights and sirens to pull the car over, Colorado State Patrol spokesperson Gary Cooper told the Post.
Instead of pulling over, Cooper said the Mustang sped up to 150 mph.
The car was going so fast that Cooper told the Post that troopers couldn’t get a read on its license plate, and the only description the story offered was that the Mustang was “dark colored” and “older,” but it’s pretty unclear which model it was. Cooper said the troopers chasing the car tried to catch up but couldn’t do it, and called off the chase.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the area of the interstate where the Mustang sped away has a bad record of fatal crashes, probably because it’s a straight and flat stretch of road surrounded by mountain passes. Cooper told the Post the chase was called off primarily for the safety of the drivers in it. From the Post:
“It’s extremely reckless, especially with people who haven’t been trained to drive at those speeds,” Cooper said. “I’ve seen a deer total a car before.”
Brakes get hot and tires can suddenly blow out at high speeds, he said. Calling off the chase in this circumstance may have saved the life of the driver, he said.
The moral of the story here isn’t that the driver got away, so don’t close the tab daydreaming of how fast you’ll speed along the interstate next time you book a trip to Colorado. This was dangerous to the Mustang driver and anyone nearby, especially with nighttime visibility and how notoriously bad headlights are.
My take? Go book a track day instead. At least if you get stupid out there, you can have comfort in knowing that everyone expected at least one of those people to show up.