A moment of reckless driving on a regional New South Wales highway has cost a young motorist dearly, both financially and legally.

Highway patrol officers conducting routine speed enforcement near Ardlethan on Saturday afternoon clocked a white Holden Commodore travelling at an eye-watering 175 kilometres per hour. The road's posted limit? Just 100km/h.

When officers pulled over the vehicle on Burley Griffin Way around midday, they were met with an unusually candid response. The 20-year-old P2 licence holder, when questioned about his dangerous speed, simply admitted: "Just being an idiot."

The Costly Consequences

That moment of honesty couldn't save the young driver from severe penalties. Operating under the double demerit holiday period, the provisional driver faced an immediate six-month licence suspension and hefty fines totalling $3,384.

The penalties stem from two separate offences: exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h while on a provisional licence, and failing to display the required P plates. Together, these violations stripped him of 14 demerit points—magnified by the holiday period enforcement measures.

Police refrained from sanctioning the vehicle itself, as the driver wasn't the registered owner.

A Stark Reminder

Griffith Highway Patrol used the incident to reinforce a sobering statistic: speeding contributes to approximately 42 per cent of road fatalities across the state.