LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — It began like most other traffic stops in Central Florida: a radar screen lit up, a tone sounded and a trooper’s lights lit up the night sky in the early morning hours of January 17, 2026.
Trooper Tyler Novak said he saw a Lexus driving 122 miles per hour in the I-4 express lanes, where the speed limit is just 60 miles per hour, and pulled the car over.
Inside, he said in his report, was Travis Pittman, a Mt. Dora police officer.
The report does not detail what was said between Novak and Pittman: only that eventually, Novak asked Pittman to get out of his car to sign some forms, and allowed Pittman to drive off with a court date and a warning to drive safely.
Novak charged Pittman under Florida’s “super speeder” law, which allows officers to arrest drivers traveling at speeds 50 miles per hour above the posted limit or greater than 100 miles per hour on the highway.
Unlike many cases highlighted by FHP and other agencies, Novak chose to not arrest Pittman. It’s not clear if he knew Pittman was an off-duty police officer at the time of the stop.
Although hundreds of people have been arrested under the new law, records show discretion is being used frequently to keep drivers out of jail.
Of the approximately 980 criminal traffic citations issued in Orange County since April 1, 33 were filed under the super speeder law, including five by FHP.
Only one of those five drivers was arrested: a person traveling two miles per hour faster than Pittman.
Of the 33 total stops, 17 resulted in arrests – just over the 50% mark. However, many of the people allowed to drive off by the local agencies in the county were pulled over by Maitland Police on SR 414 near I-4 – a notorious speed trap where the highway-looking road has a posted limit of 45 miles per hour.
Orange County deputies and Orlando officers were far less forgiving, arresting people for speeds lower than Pittman’s.
“We will continue to strictly enforce the Super Speeder statute,” an OCSO spokesperson wrote. “While our deputies do have discretion to issue a criminal citation instead of arresting, when drivers are exhibiting the behaviors of dangerous, excessive speeding, in the vast majority of cases, they are arrested.”
Mt. Dora Police said Pittman would be subject to an internal investigation after his criminal case wraps up.
Pittman’s attorney declined to comment ahead of this story’s publication.
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