Heartthrob singer Justin Bieber was ticketed yesterday for speeding on a Los Angeles freeway after being chased by at least one other vehicle, authorities said.

The 18-year-old Boyfriend and Baby crooner was cited for driving in excess of 105km/h about 10.45 am, after calls came in complaining of a freeway chase on southbound Highway 101 near Studio City, said Officer Ming Hsu of the California Highway Patrol.

Bieber told officers he was being chased by paparazzi, said Hsu. "The second vehicle left the area and there's a search to find it," said Hsu.

The claim of a chase is backed by eyewitness Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, who called authorities after seeing Bieber's distinctive chrome Fisker Karma being chased by five or six other cars.

On his morning commute to City Hall, Zine said he saw Bieber's sports car drive up behind him and zoom around him, weaving wildly in and out of traffic while five or six other cars gave chase.

Zine, who spent 33 years as an officer for the LAPD, estimated the chase exceeded 160 km/h as paparazzi engaged in wild manoeuvres to keep up with Bieber, including driving on the shoulder and cutting off other vehicles.

Zine said Bieber was breaking the law by driving recklessly and speeding, and the paparazzi were breaking the law by hounding him.

"This was very bizarre, very outrageous and showed a total disregard for life and property," he said.

Zine, a witness to countless crashes and fatalities during his time as an officer, said he was surprised no one crashed.

"The way [Bieber] was driving was totally reckless, I would have arrested him if I had pulled him over," he said.

The incident isn't the only time the singer has had conflict with paparazzi. In May, a photographer complained he was roughed up by the pop star in a California shopping centre when he tried to snap photos of Bieber and his girlfriend, teen actress Selena Gomez.

In April last year, Bieber called off a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, because he didn't want to face the country's notoriously aggressive paparazzi.

- AP