Speeding isn’t new. As long as there have been gas pedals, speed limits have been treated like suggestions for some. 

This weekend, Arizona Highway Patrol nabbed a trio of speeders and posted about it proudly on their Facebook page. 

It’s the latest dragnet of traffic enforcement on the road synonymous with rear-end collisions.  

“We’ve increased enforcement efforts along State Route 347 with the goal of reducing collisions and preventing injuries,” Lt. Col. Daven Byrd, assistant director of the Highway Patrol Division, told InMaricopa. “Zero-tolerance enforcement details are being conducted regularly along this corridor.” 

They hammered the point home even further with a social media posting.  

 “If you haven’t already noticed, state troopers are conducting zero-tolerance enforcement here on SR 347,” said a state trooper in a Facebook video about the new campaign posted today. “If you get caught speeding, best believe you’re getting a ticket.” 

Who are these people driving so fast on the 347? Where are they going? We did some more digging and one of these guys is worth writing a little bit more about.  

Here are the faces of alleged speeders 

The fastest speeder of the three, clocked at 104 miles per hour on SR 347, didn’t have a driving record until this weekend. Perhaps Gustavo Pelayo Ramos just had to go to the bathroom and should be cut some slack. 

Another driver with a swashbuckling name, Debraunist St. Claire Richean Fox-Flimmingez, charged Monday with reckless speeding for going 100 miles per hour, had just settled a different excessive speeding case. The 21-year-old Fox-Flimmingez was ticketed in February for speeding 20 miles over the speed limit in Pinal County. He settled that case March 20. 

And then there is the motorcyclist Ezequiel Palma Reyes, clocked at 98 miles an hour on SR 347 Sunday.

The 26-year-old Tempe man arrested on SR 347 wasn’t carrying a driver’s license or motorcycle endorsement. He also had an arrest warrant. He was booked into jail for criminal speeding, driving on a suspended driver’s license and that warrant. Reyes’s motorcycle, what looks like a Ducati Panigale, was impounded.  

This isn’t the first time Reyes has been in trouble with the law. It’s about his eighth traffic ticket in the last decade. 

Since 2017, he’s been cited for driving without a valid license, using HOV lanes improperly and multiple counts of driving on a suspended or revoked license, according to court records from Maricopa and Pinal Counties. 

The earliest documented offense dates to Oct. 26, 2017, when Reyes was cited in Kyrene Justice Court for operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license. In 2019, he was again cited in Mesa’s Highland Justice Court for improperly driving in an HOV lane without the required number of occupants. 

Reyes’s driving record escalated in 2023 with multiple charges filed in Scottsdale City Court. On Aug. 30, he pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended or revoked license. Two related charges, failure to provide financial responsibility and a missing license plate lamp were dismissed by prosecutors. Days later, Sept. 1, he entered another guilty plea for the same offense in a separate case. A charge for failing to appear in court was dismissed in that instance. 

In the most recent case, filed in January in Maricopa Municipal Court, Reyes failed to appear for a civil traffic offense involving speeding and driving without a valid license. The court entered a default judgment against him. He later resolved a related criminal failure-to-appear charge just this month.  

Records from this weekend’s arrest show he is charged with speeding over 20 miles per hour above the posted limit and driving on a suspended license. 

In total, Reyes has been cited for at least five separate instances of operating a vehicle without a valid or legal driver’s license, and has repeatedly failed to appear in court, leading to dismissals or default judgments in several cases. 

So, you’ll see more troopers out on the 347. Hopefully they’re slowing people down. Hopefully everyone survives.  

“Our mission to protect life and property is something we take very seriously. Drivers engaging in reckless or dangerous behavior will be arrested. Please slow down, buckle up and drive responsibly,” said Byrd.