Four people were arrested on Sunday for driving way over the speed limit in Ekurhuleni east of Johannesburg.
One speedster claimed to be an Eskom employee who was "dealing with load shedding issues".
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department's High Speed Unit arrested the four on Sunday between 05:00 and 11:00 on the stretch of the N3 freeway southbound between the Geldenhuys Interchange and the Rand Airport turn-off.
This stretch of the freeway is a 120km/h zone. They were caught doing speeds of between 162km/h and 173km/h.
"At 05:44, a 29-year-old male driver behind a wheel of a maroon Mazda 3 was clocked at 173km/h citing the reason that he was late for work," Chief Superintendent Wilfred M Kgasago said in a statement.
"[At] around 05:50 a silver BMW driven by a 31-year-old male with a female and three children passengers was stopped for doing 169km/h with the driver claiming he was on his way to Durban.
"The third speedster was a 28-year-old female driver caught at 05:25 doing 164km/h in a white Hyundai i20 also advancing the reason that she was late for work.
"The fourth arrestee was a 47-year-old male in a grey Toyota Fortuner SUV arrested at 09:10 after registering 162km/h claiming to be an Eskom employee dealing with load shedding issues," Kgasago said.
All four speedsters were charged at Germiston police station for reckless and negligent driving.
They are expected to appear in the Germiston Magistrate's Court soon.
Source: News24
