Motorcyclist on A14 caught doing 158 mph, setting dubious record

A motorcyclist in Suffolk has achieved an ignominious record, getting caught riding at the highest speed that Suffolk Police have ever recorded.

The unnamed motorcyclist, riding an unnamed motorbike, was clocked hitting 158 mph on the A14 near Creeting St. Peter last week, according to Suffolk Police.

Police have not yet actually apprehended the motorcyclist, according to a report by the BBC. A spokesman for the police force said that a Notice of Intended Prosecution had been sent to the registered owner’s address and that he or she would be summoned to court as soon as they had been identified.

I’m sure that person will be very prompt in responding to the police…

Meanwhile, police say the second highest speed recorded in the county was also achieved by a motorbike, also on the A14, back in 2022. That motorcycle was clocked doing 147 mph.

As a motorcyclist, one can’t help but feel a little bit emotionally torn when stories like this pop up. On one hand: rock on. Riding 158 mph on a motorcycle is kinda cool - you rebel, you. If the offender turns out to be a rock star or bad-boy novelist or the like, we’ll inevitably lift this behaviour up as an exemplar of bad-assery.

On the other hand, it’s stupid and dangerous and the motorcyclist should face some serious punishment. If you want to murder yourself on a motorbike, that’s fine - go ahead. But on a public road, a motorcycle traveling at 158 mph is a missile. Point that missile at, say, a Volkswagen Sharan, and you’ve just killed someone’s 2-year-old daughter.

It’s not big, and it’s not clever. And because the rest of the people using the road likely won’t see the ‘going super-fast is cool’ side of things, it’s an act that just hurts motorcyclists in general. Screaming bikes down public roads ultimately results in more restrictions, more speed cameras, and a public that has no interest in treating you with kindness. Not what we need.