Caught on camera: Car goes 198 mph on Wake County highway

Josh Chapin Image
Friday, August 17, 2018

WAKE COUNTY, NC (WTVD) -- One hundred ninety-eight miles per hour!

It's how fast a driver in Wake County got up to last month on US-1 near the Triangle Expressway.

William Jefferson, 22, was behind the wheel -- he has since been charged with street racing and reckless driving.

"It's one reason why I don't want my kids on the roads late at night," said Maryanne McAdams, a mother from Holly Springs. "I don't have a driver yet --we're about a year away but it's that kind of stuff that makes me really nervous."

North Carolina State Highway Patrol said somebody sent them the seven-minute YouTube clip as part of a complaint.

The video shows Jefferson in his Dodge Challenger "Hellcat" driving nearly 130 mph over the speed limit on US-1. In addition, the video shows Jefferson take the car over 100 in a 40 mph zone.

The clip starts with the car doing "doughnuts" in a parking lot before moving to a clip of Jefferson with his hood open at a nearby Sheetz.

"I don't think that road is particularly dangerous but anybody going 198 mph and it's going to be particularly dangerous," McAdams said. "It's really a miracle that nobody was hurt or killed in that."

Jefferson has a clean record except for a few traffic violations.