"Accused 147 mph speeder gets day in court"

[Delphi]

Accused 147 mph speeder gets day in court

By Mike Sakal, Tribune

July 17, 2006

The Scottsdale speeding case that caught the attention of both car experts and photo enforcement critics moves into gear this week.

Goodyear resident Lawrence Pargo, 26, pleaded not guilty following his May 21 drive on Loop 101 that city officials said reached speeds up to 147 mph.

Some car enthusiasts doubted the accuracy of Scottsdale’s freeway photo enforcement program, saying Pargo’s rented 2006 Hyundai Sonata likely couldn’t go that fast.

Pargo, who was charged with four counts of speeding, reckless driving and endangerment, is scheduled to appear in Scottsdale City Court at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday for a trial date to be set. He was caught four times by the freeway camera system, officials said, at the speeds of 102, 105, 128 and 147 mph between 5:47 a.m. and 6:20 a.m.

Pargo’s attorney, Laura Lehan of Phoenix, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf at his arraignment in June. Pargo, a house master for the developmentally disabled, told police he was leaving his girlfriend’s house that morning and was running late to work.

He said he noticed that his gas tank was empty and that he had passed a gas station. He exited Loop 101, went north again before he gassed up and went south on the freeway again, a police report states.

Nothing has changed since then, and no new information has been added to Pargo’s case file, court staff said.

Pargo and Lehan haven’t returned several phone calls seeking comment.

Scottsdale and its photo enforcement vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, maintain the speed sensors embedded along an eight-mile stretch of Loop 101 are accurate. But the idea of an apparently unmodified Hyundai Sonata rented from Avis reaching the reported speeds seems farfetched to some experts.

“It could be, possibly, that the city’s speed radar equipment malfunctioned,” Steve Spence, the managing editor of Car and Driver magazine, recently told the Tribune. “When we test-drove the Sonata, our driver got it up to 137 mph — and that’s as fast as it would go. We don’t believe the Hyundai Sonata can go 147 mph.”

A federally regulated speed limiter would limit the car to 137 mph, according to the Hyundai Sonata Web site.

Certified Hyundai technicians also have doubted whether the South Koreanbuilt car can reach that speed, and performance car enthusiasts said that 122 mph would be “pushing it.”

Dave Baras, a spokesman for Avis Car Rental headquartered in New Jersey, said that the company doesn’t alter its cars and that Pargo has been placed on a “no rent” list, meaning he can’t rent another Avis car.

If found guilty, Pargo could receive 12 points on his driver’s license. It takes eight points to suspend a driver’s license. The average cost of a speeding ticket on Loop 101 is $157, but Pargo could have to pay $200 or more for each ticket and face fines and possible jail time, a city court clerk said.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=69787

Edited July 29, 2006 by Delphi

[pow]

147 MPH Sonata...

[deftonesfan867]

Even at 128 i'm shocked the motor didn't blow.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

You have got to be kidding me. It's a Hyundai, Arizona. Not a damn BMW, not a damn Benz -- hell, it's not even a damn VW.

[NOS2006]

147 MPH.

[speedy_2]

147!?!? Come on...Maybe...47?? :rotflmao:

[capriceman]

Octane booster does wonders!! Court is going to be a bitch......

[ocnblu]

This brings up another point: speed limiters. I am interested in finding out why some cars have them and some don't. Does Honda have them? VW doesn't, that I know of.

I vote to ban speed limiters on vehicles. All this B.S. about tire speed ratings, WTF izzat? Shoot, in the old days, people used to test the limits of their cars on bias-ply tires, four wheel drum brakes, etc. Now we have all these nannies "protecting" us, and guess what? People still wreck their cars.

No freakin' way a Hyundai Sonata is gonna go 147.

[razoredge]

Whats the Abovelaw enforcement people doing using tax payers money to place expensive photo equipment and "vendors" by which to criminalize and punish the working class of America for the foul act of wasteing 2+ hours of our day driving to work and back ?

Taking a "bite out of chrime" there big fellow ? Im so glad to see you are focusing your priority where it really counts.........................thats the area you can really get MONEY, because you sure as hell cant get a bloody penny out of the low life criminal element. Just admit it, its all about revenue and has nothing to do with true "chrime".

We all know Mr. Abovelaw never puts the pedal down on his "cruiser" just to hear the engine roar. Never goes fast just for kicks. Mr. Abovelaw Maker never gets drunk, never did drugs or visit the local "ladies"............naw, none of that. They just putty putt putter their whimpy way through life riding the tax payer gravy train.

We have no criminal law enforcement people in this country just a bunch of traffic cops and civil suits cause thats where the MONEY is.

Its amazing whats legal and whats "illegal" in this country

Vaporizor nearly complete but not soon enough

[Flybrian]

This is so absurd because any Hyundai above 100mph is categorically unstable.

On a related note, my father received a warning for going 95mph in a loaner Daewoo Leganza.

[daves87rs]

This is so absurd because any Hyundai above 100mph is categorically unstable.

On a related note, my father received a warning for going 95mph in a loaner Daewoo Leganza.

172902[/snapback]

THey go that fast?

I saw one make it to 75 and blow...

[loki]

well lets just say the car had the 3.3L in it that makes 235HP....

on http://www.miata.net/sport/Physics/06-Speed.html

scrolling down, it shows a formula to approximate how much hp it's needed to go so fast, for a corvette, maybe it an early 80's one? anyway... it says

A late model Corvette, for example, has a top speed of about 150 miles per hour and about 240 hp. This means that if you keep your foot all the way down, using up all 240 hp, you can eventually go 150 mph. It takes a while to get there. In this car, you can get to 60 mph in about 6 seconds (if you don't spin the drive wheels), to 100 mph in about 15 seconds, and 150 in about a minute.

so it has a 5speed auto (for the sonata) lets just say it's not totally impossible, but it'd have to stay on the road, obviously, at that speed.

[Robert Hall]

147 in a Sonata.. riiiight. Speaking of going fast, my Mustang's speedo only goes to 85, so I don't know how fast I've had it ('87 GT)....I've had my Grand Cherokee up to 95 (really wouldn't want to go much faster in an SUV), but I did see 140 once in my M3 (at night on an open stretch of 75-mph freeway).

[ShadowDog]

Alright, so it's unlikely the car can reach 147 MPH...but man, what's he really needing to be cruising over 100 MPH in a grocery-getter anyway?

Photo radar, Big Brother, money-grabbing-cash-cow...blah, blah, blah; I mean, there's rights, and then there's just stupidity.

[Paolino]

I don't see why it's impossible to have a Hyundai hit over 100... 147, maybe not, but not far off. I had a 94 Century, with a 160hp engine (3100), go 110... and it's not like I was pushing it past that--it probably could have gone a little faster.

[ocnblu]

Just how long is that island? :AH-HA_wink:

[deftonesfan867]

Aerodynamics come into play though, remember this is a SUV were talking about.

[Robert Hall]

Aerodynamics come into play though, remember this is a SUV were talking about.

173028[/snapback]

The Hyundai Sonata is a 4dr sedan, not an SUV.

[steelalloywheels]

and domestic idiots pertend tat importrs sux well they dont and i hope that `they leanr that they better

hyundai roxers more thabn GM buy a million liteyears morons

[Robert Hall]

and domestic idiots pertend tat importrs sux well they dont and i hope that `they leanr that they better

hyundai roxers more thabn GM buy a million liteyears morons

173047[/snapback]

Sounds like another incoherent troll..I wonder when he will be banned from the site?

[FAPTurbo]

WHERE THE HELL DO THESE MORONS COME FROM!?

... and why is there an influx of them all of a sudden?

Are they from thegmsource.com?... trying to ruin us?

[Satty]

Are they from thegmsource.com?... trying to ruin us?

173049[/snapback]

Since Josh is the only person who posts on thegmsource, its possible.

[deftonesfan867]

The Hyundai Sonata is a 4dr sedan, not an SUV.

173041[/snapback]

my bad, my minds not in working order right now.

[lakefire]

not to mention that it's 6:00am when he got those tickets and it's likely no other car was on the road. I think speeding should be legal in those cases because you are soley responsible for yourself.