Thanksgiving is one of the biggest travel holidays in the U.S. and, with that many people on the road, the California Highway Patrol ends up issuing a shocking amount of tickets over the holiday weekend. One particular Lamborghini Aventador driver got one of those tickets for allegedly driving 152 mph on state highway SR-154, in Santa Barbara County.
“SLOW DOWN!!! 154 is the State Route NOT the speed limit,” said the CHP in a Facebook post. “We know how tempting it can be to ‘open it up’ when your car is fast and the weather is beautiful, but save it for the track!”
Judging by the rear wing in the photo, this specific Lamborghini seems to be an Aventador SVJ, which has a naturally aspirated V12 with 759 horsepower. It can hit 60 mph in a claimed 2.8 seconds and rockets to a top speed of 217 mph. As you can imagine, it’s easy to get to illegal speeds without even trying while behind the wheel of an SVJ. However, the area where the Lamborghini driver was caught is a 55-mph zone, so their 152-mph trap speed was almost triple the legal limit. That doesn’t happen because they weren’t looking at the speedometer. I don’t want to sound like a square, and I’m obviously all for spirited driving, but that sort of speed on a public highway is just absurdly dangerous.
Shockingly, the driver got off with a pretty mild reckless driving misdemeanor ticket. The Facebook post’s comments section is full of California residents pretty shocked at the leniency of the officer. The maximum penalty for a reckless driving misdemeanor in California is up to 90 days in jail and fines of up to $1,000, including points on their license. That’s not likely to put much of a dent in the checkbook of a Lambo owner, however.
The holidays are a busy time for CHP officers, who busted just over 1,000 people for drunk driving and issued 5,600 other tickets, during a four-day stretch around the holiday last year. In 2021, 42 people were killed in crashes on Thanksgiving weekend. According to AAA, more than 4.5 million Southern California drivers traveled during the Thanksgiving weekend, which is how you get so many crashes and tickets issued. So remember that next Thanksgiving, especially if you’re traveling in an Aventador SVJ.
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