SAANICH, B.C. - Police on Vancouver Island say they're close to catching up with a motorcyclist seen on a YouTube video blazing down a busy highway at nearly 300 kilometres an hour.
The adrenaline-inducing video has been watched more than 100,000 times since it was uploaded earlier this month, and police in Saanich, near Victoria, say they've determined it was shot on a local highway.
The video shows the perspective of the unidentified driver, who zooms between cars and trucks, sometimes coming within a metre of other vehicles, as the speedometer needle climbs.
"I get a feeling of vertigo when I've watched it," Sgt. Dean Jantzen said in an interview.
"I cannot find strong enough words to describe how unacceptable this is. It is reckless beyond the imagination. I travel that stretch of roadway with my family on a regular basis, and let me tell you, it's scary."
The video was posted to an anonymous YouTube account on April 8. Police believe it was shot a day or two earlier.
Jantzen said a traffic investigator has been working to track down the person who shot the video.
The officer has determined the IP address of whoever uploaded the video, said Jantzen, and is considering obtaining a production order to compel the user's Internet service provider to divulge the identity the original poster.
The investigator already has several names of possible suspects, said Jantzen.
The driver could face a range of potential penalties, including a criminal charge of dangerous driving.
Jantzen said police hope the publicity around the video discourages others from taking such risks, rather than fuelling other motorcyclists' need for speed.
"We wrestle with issues like this because we know that when we draw attention to it and the media gets a hold of it that it will drive traffic to these sites," he said.
