This isn't exactly a GOOD excuse for speeding, but . . . um . . . at least it's a topical one?

A guy got pulled over on a highway in Oakland, California last week for going 99 miles-an-hour in a 65.

And he told the cop he KNEW he wasn't going that fast . . . so maybe the cop was actually looking at the TEMPERATURE, not the radar speed.

The cop says that led to a, quote, "awkward silence" . . . and eventually the guy gave up and signed his citation.

And for what it's worth, the radar gun DID show the temperature on the screen along with the speed . . . but it was only 80.2 degrees, not 99. 

(UPI) 

(Here's a picture of the radar gun.)