DygiScape

Solution to Illegal Street Racing

Sep 9, 2006 Personal, Politics

As one in the ’scene’, yet still objective, I want to offer a suggestion to police departments and cities around the nation on how to handle the Illegal Street Racing scene. I would certainly be gratified if Arizona law enforcement read this. The goal is to save lives and increase a stronger bond between citizens and law enforcement.

First off, in case you aren’t a street racing meme, let me elaborate. In many cities, people cruise around in their car on Friday and Saturday nights and just hang out. The people that do this are usually car enthusiasts, aged from 16-25 or so, but some ‘older’ folks participate too. Drag racing is often one of the methods to compare the velocity of your car to another. Basically, just take the movie, ‘Fast and the Furious‘ and knock it back a few notches.

So why exactly do people street race, even when there are high penalties at stake? A few reasons include convenience, distance to official drag track, the overall value of $20 to race on a track (return on investment), and ignorance to other’s regard for safety (narcissism of driving ability). The bottom line is judgment of the ROI of going to a track and racing when you can simply just “Git-R-Done” right there, on the street.

Here’s the problem. Police will continually drive street racers away, from location to location; a constant game of cat and mouse. People then fear the police even more to the point of aggressive reactions. Street racers eventually find a spot, usually rural, and will conduct races there. The danger arises when Police show up at a race and panic and chaos occurs. Playing devil’s advocate, if there was a collision, they are miles away from emergency services. So who is really killing our ‘Teens’? Further, its a deeper issue - police do a poor job of interacting with street racers.

People often cite the massive numbers used in collision statistics, often with a hint of ignorance. I don’t blame them; I mean look at what the media feeds us when it comes to Drag Racing and Teens. Rather than look at an objective view of it; they collate the stats, and separate parental responsibility. Here, I’ll quote an article I came across in my pursuit of finding some drag racing death stats.

“…officials across the country continue to wage war against the love for speed, the chase, and a rush of adrenaline. Teens are not the only ones who participate in street racing, and racing is just one factor - including speeding, drinking, and error - in teen fatalities each year.”
(Christian Science Monitor, “The spread of teenage drag racing raises red flags“)

This is one of the only forms of media that has the tenacity to let their readers understand that Teens are not isolated, in addition, other factors included alcohol and poor judgment. So my stance on statistics is that they can and will be skewed to prove whatever agenda the media wants to give to their audience. Now that I think of it, here is our local newspaper, Tucson Citizen, which operates under Tucson Newspapers Inc., doing just that. This authoritative title is not helping the issue, rather it adds to it. “Teenage drivers kill 213 here in 10 years” gives parents and adults the ability to play the victim, point the finger and not have a vested interest in fixing the issue. To insinuate that teenagers in Tucson are the source of a majority of deaths and injuries here, is ludicrous, and what about doing a story on all sources human loss locally? I’ll feed them fuel for the fire “How Tucsonans Die” as a headline and they can cite CDC statistics all they want. Please, TNI, if you report or cite statistics; drop the ulterior agenda that is so very apparent in your articles. If you want to propagandize every story, be an advocate for your readers and make it clear and concise in one paragraph of your opinions.
So what is the Solution?
I suggest to fight fire with fire. Police need to be interactive and should be in a position that racers can cooperate with. The best approach I suggest is to have police moderate and aide racers, by blocking off a rural, low usage road, for street races. In addition to building rapport with racers; they can share their information, agenda, and even local businesses can participate. On top of that, allow businesses in the automotive, energy drinks, and public service campaigns to advertise. The monetary resources are there. Why have 12 officers pull traffic enforcement harass racers in the cat and mouse game? Employ two officers to run street races in conjunction with racers, safely. Liability? Have a signed form, waiving liability. For minors under 18, just have a parental consent form. It’s very possible, we can do this. It just takes an amount of initiative to get it going.
If you agree or disagree with me, please feel welcome letting me know. I respect your views; but if your disagree, please offer another viable alternative. I don’t want to other lives disappear, but on that same note the very thrill of racing in a line for 1/4 mile shouldn’t be something future generations forget about.

Disclaimer: Any illegal activity mentioned herein is ficticious and I abide by all traffic laws contained in Arizona Revised Statutes.
[tags]Street Racing, Racing, Drag Racing, Teens, Teen Deaths, Tucson, Arizona, AZ, Suggestions, Solution, Media, Police, Enforcement, Law, Speeding[/tags]

Tags: OpEd, Personal, Rants, street racing