An 18-year-old Queenstown youth allegedly driving at nearly double the open road speed limit on a wet road near Alexandra on Saturday night, with four passengers in his BMW M3 car, was ''a recipe for disaster''.
Sergeant Simon Paget, of Cromwell, said a highway patrol officer recorded the vehicle travelling at 186kmh on Earnscleugh Rd.
''As the officer explained it to me, you had a young and inexperienced driver, in charge of a powerful vehicle, doing that speed, in those road conditions, with a carload of passengers - it was a recipe for disaster - a newspaper headline waiting to happen,'' Sgt Paget said.
The youth and the passengers, all teenagers, were University of Otago students on their way back to Dunedin.
''When you look at it, it's almost double the speed limit and people struggle to control a vehicle at 100kmh, let alone twice the limit.
''Even experienced police officers, who have training in driving quickly, are taken aback by the speed he was doing and the potential for disaster,'' Sgt Paget said.
The driver instantly had his licence suspended for 28 days and will appear in the Alexandra District Court on Wednesday to face a charge of driving at a dangerous speed.
