“Reckless speed has tremendously increased.”

So says a lieutenant with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO), about what he and his colleagues see out on the roads.

“We’ve seen a substantial increase of the speed - of the number itself as opposed to just people speeding,” Lt. Scotty Spriggs tells WSB Radio.

Take as example the work of the FCSO to chase-down and safely bring into custody a speeder in December. The department posted on Facebook the dash cam videos of an attempted traffic stop of a vehicle. The driver accelerates to 70 mph in a 35-mph zone near Buford Hwy. The car then hits over 100 mph trying to flee the deputy in pursuit. At one point, the suspect’s car was clocked at 144 mph on Georgia 400.

What followed was the use of spike sticks, then the eventual arrest of the suspect using a PIT maneuver off McFarland Parkway.

Speeders traveling that fast present a number of challenges and dangers - to the surrounding drivers, law enforcers, and to the suspect.

“The people that are around (speeders), they’re not thinking that they’re going to have to respond to somebody that’s driving as reckless as that is,” says Spriggs. “We have to think about all those things at one time, and it’s a split-second situation where it’s ever-evolving.”

Spriggs says it is a delicate balance to bring dangerous drivers to a stop - with safety paramount. “Try to get units in front of the car, to get the stop sticks down, to try to get some type of ability to eliminate the pursuit as quickly and as fast as possible.”

Spriggs says the pandemic opened the door to more “super”-type speeders hitting the roads - and that behavior has continued. And there is this: “I’ve seen that call volume related to road rage issues has increased quite exponentially here recently as well.”

With the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and so many other metro agencies operating below full-staffing levels. that presents another challenge in trying to dedicate more time to corralling the most dangerous speeders.

“We try to do different things, whether that be by setting-up and doing speed details with our personnel, or ever so often we’ll do some saturated patrols with some other officers to come in from other shifts to try to boost up our numbers as best as we can,” says Spriggs.

There can be frustration in catching some speeder-suspects, with so many others that get by. “My old adage is it’s kind of like shooting the ducks - you can shoot up there but you’re not going to get them all,” says Spriggs.

Right now, he says “it’s not so much about writing tickets, it’s actually just trying to change a behavior.”

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