Michael Maciejewski, his Acura's tires smoking after he slammed on the brakes, had very little he could say when he was clocked going 142 mph on Interstate 684.

As the state trooper peered through his window, the 24-year-old Connecticut man just looked up and confessed he was speeding because he was late for a movie in Hawthorne.

The March 2007 ticket in Southeast was believed to be the highest ever recorded locally, but so many extreme speeders have followed that troopers hiding out along I-684 these days seldom bother stopping "routine speeders" - those going, say, 75 mph.

"We can't write everybody up," said Trooper Brad Molloy of the Somers barracks, watching several speeders pass by in Bedford before pouncing on a Dodge Caravan going 90.

"I think she's crying," Molloy observed, popping on his gray Stetson and dark Bole shades before walking over to ticket the Massachusetts driver.

I-684, stretching from Harrison to Brewster and featuring long, wide straightaways, is the Lower Hudson Valley's closest thing to Germany's Autobahn. Since the speed limit was raised to 65 a few years ago, many drivers have shown they can double that.

Bad boy rapper DMX was clocked at 104 mph in 2004, only to be surpassed by his wife, who was found going 106 on the same highway two years later. But three male speedsters were convicted of doing more than 130 mph on I-684 between 2006 and 2007.

Seven drivers, all men, reached 130-plus during that period in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. The other four were stopped on the Sprain Brook Parkway, Interstate 87 and Route 9 in Westchester and the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Rockland, according to a review of state records by The Journal News.

Speeders on the rise

Records also show that 11,210 drivers were convicted of speeding on I-684 in Westchester and Putnam in 2006 and 2007 - more than any other highway in the region. Of 104,529 drivers convicted of speeding in the Lower Hudson Valley, the average speeder was going about 20 mph over the limit, with 452 going more than 100 mph.

"It's not as uncommon as it once was," said state police Sgt. John Hennigan, station commander in Somers. "Cars nowadays, they go very, very fast. A lot of cars can go 120 to 130 miles per hour, even faster, some of them. It's like German cars designed for the Autobahn."

For police, speeders are easy targets. Increased traffic enforcement efforts almost always yield results and are a big reason police are issuing more tickets.

"We consistently have an increase in the number of speeding tickets from year to year, so speeding continues to be an area where we focus our efforts," said state police Sgt. Christopher Lopez, a traffic safety officer based in Dutchess County.

But for the offenders, getting stopped is just the beginning of their predicament. There's still that dreaded trip to local traffic court, where they can get anything from a slap to a set of handcuffs on the wrists.

Often, it's just a slap. Statistics show that, in 2006 and 2007, less than half the 160,016 speeding tickets in the region resulted in convictions on the original charge. Many plead guilty to lesser offenses, such as an equipment violation, thereby avoiding points on their licenses.

A couple of years ago, state police ordered troopers to stop plea bargaining their cases at court, but prosecutors still have the discretion to dispose of cases as they see fit.

In Southeast Town Court, Maciejewski was sentenced to five days in jail and a $455 fine after pleading guilty to going 95 in the 65 zone. He could have faced 15 days in jail for that offense.

Long arm of the law

The Journal News' review shows the speeders on I-684 have it relatively easy, punishment-wise, compared to those on certain highways in Rockland and Orange counties.

Walkill Town Justice Raymond Shoemaker, a former state trooper who has responded to several speed-related fatal car crashes, has sentenced people to up to 15 days in jail for driving 90 mph, as little as 25 mph over the limit.

"Over the last four or five years, we've had some rather violent motor vehicle accidents occurring on our local highways," Shoemaker said. "It appears that it's mostly young, inexperienced drivers who are involved. How best do you think these kids are going to learn? Just to get a reduced speed, a fine and a surcharge and away they go? If you're going to go that kind of speed, maybe they need a little reminder how serious what they have done is."

The law allows judges broad leeway in deciding these cases.

John Campbell, a White Plains lawyer who routinely handles traffic cases, said it's absurd for judges to jail drivers when their offenses wouldn't even result in a license suspension, though he acknowledged that some of the extreme speeds are like a "missile going down the highway."

"When it gets over 95 or 100, that's not just going with the flow of the traffic," he said.

Ongoing problem

State police Sgt. Duane Dolson, whose barracks in Haverstraw patrols the Palisades Interstate Parkway, said speeding there has been a problem throughout his seven years as station commander.

"This road was built for people to take a nice ride into the country to utilize the parks, and has turned into a commuter superhighway," Dolson said.

Speeding has become so routine that drivers on certain highways, such as I-684, say it's sometimes safer to speed with the rest of the traffic. Others don't even realize they're going too fast.

Develle Gatson, a 28-year-old from Yonkers who was clocked at 85 mph, said he couldn't have been going more than 60 mph to 65 mph when he was stopped in Southeast.

"I'm pretty confident I wasn't speeding, but it's my word versus a state trooper's," Gatson said during his recent court date. "Who do you think is going to win?"

Molloy, the Somers trooper who stops dozens of speeders per shift, said drivers almost always try to justify or deny their speed.

"Everyone has an excuse why they're speeding," he said, citing a personal favorite: a man who claimed he was rushing to take his dog to get impregnated.

While that one made him laugh, Molloy has also seen the consequences of speed, having responded last year to a motorcycle crash on I-684 in which a 24-year-old Pleasantville man was killed after witnesses saw him going more than 100 mph.

"We're trying to get a point across that people should slow it down," he said. "Speed limits are posted for a reason."