OFF THE WIRE
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/local_news/special_reports/Risky-rides-on-rocket-motorcycles
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - They're loud and they're fast. They're so fast, sometimes law enforcement can't stop them.
"You get on I-95 and it doesn't matter what happens. You don't care what happens," said Yarnell Casanova.
He rides the high-speed motorcycles, or crotch rockets as they're known to enthusiasts. "It's a drug and once you're hooked on it, you're hooked on it for life."
But they are also a growing problem for law enforcement. "They're just grossly placing everybody in danger," said Lt. Tim Frith, of the Florida Highway Patrol.
"They'll climb to outrageous speeds and we're not able to locate them because they've gotten off at another destination," said Frith. "It's almost impossible to get a tag number."
Weaving through lanes, they can throw a scare into motorists. "Certainly it's a startling effect when one of them races past you at a high rate of speed," said Frith.
The speeding trend is also fueled by an apparent competition to post the wildest and fastest stunt videos on YouTube. In one, a camera is on the helmet of a 19-year-old rider as he led the FHP on a high-speed chase down I-95 in Fort Lauderdale last year. It shows him traveling at video-game velocity--175 miles per hour--almost triple the speed limit. His luck ran out as he took a spill, got caught and landed in jail.
The same thing happened to Casanova. "I was coming down I-95, doing 120, 130, 150, 160 and I flew by a cop at about 170," he said.
Before he knew it he had highway troopers in the sky and on the ground chasing him. He got caught, had his bike confiscated and headed to the slammer for several days.
"Is it worth it?" he asks. "It wasn't worth it. I wish I would have never taken that opportunity to do it."
Casanova learned his lesson and law enforcement officials hope others will ease up on the gas as well.
