SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Bill Janklow was long known to South Dakota residents as the leadfoot governor.

During a five-year period in the early 1990s, the former four-term chief executive racked up a dozen speeding tickets. Since 1992, he has been involved in seven accidents.

"Bill Janklow speeds when he drives," Janklow himself said in a 1999 speech to the Legislature. "Shouldn't, but he does. When he gets the ticket, he pays it."

So it came as little surprise that Janklow, elected last year as the state's only congressman, was caught speeding one more time Aug. 16.

This time, however, the always-in-a-hurry public official known by some as "Wild Bill" ran a stop sign at a rural intersection. The Cadillac he was driving collided with an oncoming motorcycle, instantly killing the cycle's driver, a 55-year-old Army veteran.

Janklow's estimated speed: 70-75 mph in a 55-mph zone.

The incident has sparked a statewide debate packed with as much emotion and controversy as the venerable politician himself. Janklow, some say, ranks as the most significant public official in state history, even though he's little-known on the national stage.

What type of punishment should Janklow receive? Should he continue to serve in Congress? Or is it time for Janklow to finally - mercifully, critics say - fade away and end a career that also included a stint as attorney general?

Almost everyone has an opinion, because the volatile, dynamic congressman has been around so long that he has divided the state cleanly into pro- and anti-Janklow factions.

"If it was anybody else, they'd be throwing the book at him," said Veronica Rice, an unemployed toolmaker from Sioux Falls. "He's gotten away with things time and time again."

"Granted, he was speeding. But I speed. You speed. Everybody speeds. The guy didn't intentionally hurt anybody," said Jim Hembree, a disabled military veteran from Sioux Falls.

Janklow's political future could hinge on how he handles the issue once he emerges from seclusion. If he stands up, takes the blame and refuses to shift responsibility, then he will stick around, said Jim Madsen, a Sioux Falls business consultant.

"If there's any attempt to whitewash this thing then his career is in jeopardy," Madsen said.

A decision on whether Janklow will face criminal charges is expected any day from Moody County State's Attorney William Ellingson.

Already, political insiders are predicting that Janklow, a Republican, will survive. After all, Janklow has survived personal health crises and a plane crash. He survived the disclosure that he had issued a rash of secret pardons as governor. He was elected statewide several times after residents learned that he had commuted the sentence of a convicted robber who later murdered a 22-year-old woman. He thrived even after the publication of a book that contended he had once raped a woman.

"Janklow has pushed and pushed and pushed his luck," said state Sen. Bill Napoli, a Republican from Rapid City. "Isn't it horrible that you have to kill an individual to bring things to a head?"

The accident occurred about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 16 about 25 miles north of Sioux Falls.

Janklow was returning from Aberdeen in northeast South Dakota, where he had attended a picnic honoring Korean War veterans. He left about 2 p.m. and had covered about 175 miles.

The two-lane road was familiar. His mother lives in Flandreau on Moody County 13 north of the accident site. Janklow's home in Brandon is to the south just off the same road.

As the congressman approached the well-marked intersection, the motorcyclist, 6-foot-6-inch Randy Scott of Hardwick, Minn., probably had little time to react. Corn growing tall near the corner blocked Scott's view of Janklow's approaching car.

Scott was dead at the scene. The heavily damaged Cadillac, borrowed from a friend, skidded to a halt next to a soybean field about 300 feet from its impact with the motorcycle. Janklow suffered a fracture to his right hand and a head injury that has kept him at home resting. Blood tests showed that neither driver had been drinking or had used drugs.

In a statement, Janklow said he wanted to express "as much anguish for this gentleman (Scott) and his family and friends as is humanly possible."

Russ Janklow, the congressman's only son, said his father had not said what caused the accident. But he speculated that perhaps his father had grown complacent having driven the road so many times.

"No one in his right conscious mind would blow a stop sign at 75 mph," he said.