English 2010
April 16, 2012

Illegal Street Racing: an Unknown Danger
It is the primal urge amongst male teenagers; vehicles side by side, engines revving, to put the pedal to the floor and see who wins. It is street racing and it has caught on in the U.S. over the past decade as one of the worst influences on young impressionable minds today. The feeling you get when you’re going fast cannot be replaced by any other stimulant known to man and is just as addictive as any drug. Influential sources like the media, celebrities and peers all have the ability to pressure one into an adrenaline fueled race to the finish. The consequences of street racing, however, outweigh the rush it gives its participants. Laws passed to deter would be street racers with consequences including, but not limited to: Fines, loss of driving privileges, and imprisonment are all results of street racing, not to mention the ever present risk of serious injury or death to participants and bystanders alike. Many different ways of preventing and detecting street racing have been put into action over the last few decades by various agencies and organizations, from lowering the national maximum speed limit, installing speed cameras on buys roads, or providing innocent drivers with safer vehicles, this nation is fighting a war on street racing that many don’t even know exists.
Street racing originated from drag racing on the quarter-mile strip. The concept of drag racing is when two racers in different cars would line up at a white line, and in the middle of the two cars would be a light post, called the Christmas tree for its red, yellow and green bulbs. The tree does what a stoplight does, except backwards, it starts from red, then to yellow, then to green. On the quarter-mile strip, when the light hits green, the two racers are supposed to try to go as fast as they can before the end of the quarter-mile, which would then set off an electronic board showing their electronic times (E.T.) and their speeds. According to Evelyn Vingilis, street racing can be defined in several ways; “it may mean racing on closed circuits on regular streets in an Indy, CART, NASCAR, or other scheduled race. It can be rally racing covering many miles and several countries, such as the Paris-Dakar rally. These have legal approval and jurisdictional support, although they occur on established roads or city streets” (Vingilis 148). Street racing most commonly occurs illegally, and spontaneously, however.
Spontaneous street racing often occurs when drivers decide to challenge each other during normal driving. These races involve impromptu one-time races, commonly on straight sections of double-lane roadways, with traffic signals often providing the starting signal (Peak and Glensor 2004; Warn et al. 2004). Street racing events may also be organized through specialized “meets” or “clubs” for street racing. These events are either publicized by word of mouth or through closed internet groups. Designated as “cruises” or “blockades”, vehicles travel slowly as a convoy on major highways to block other vehicles in order to allow vehicles at the front of the blockade to engage in street racing from a rolling start. This not only creates a large road hazard to vehicles that are involved, but also to vehicles looking to merge onto the roadway, to those who attempt to pass. (Leal et al. 2007).
Illegal street racing usually occurs at night in mostly deserted streets or those with the least amount of traffic, and more importantly, police. The races usually consist of a speed trial where the acceleration and top speed capability of vehicles and/or skill of their drivers are tested before the official races begin (Leal et al. 2007). As soon as the mentality of racing begins, that’s when the danger becomes prominent. It is the mind set in which these racers are in that push the limits of public safety aside. Illegal street racing is more common of a problem than many wish to believe, although statistical data is limited due to the fact than many racers do not get caught, either through evading arrest or going un noticed, some studies have been conducted. As Peak and Glensor (2004) write: “A shortcoming at present is the lack of dedicated coding and analysis of street racing data in most police agencies. No software presently exists for the identification and analysis of racing offenses, and agencies must typically hand search their records for higher-level analyses” (p. 9). As a result, written definitions and enforcement of street racing varies by department. For example, in the province of Ontario, Canada, street racing charges have been issued within the first year of a new street racing law (Oliveira 2008). In Utah, however, a study of street racing citations from 1992 to 2002 found a convicting citation rate of 0.2 percent, which can be taken as an underestimate because the higher majority street racing is not detected and, therefore, not captured in the offenders official driver’s license citation data (Li et al. 2008). Similar difficulties exist in assessing relation of street racing and vehicular casualties. Usually, police collision reports do not include separate codes for racing, just reckless driving, although the investigating officer can include the contributing factor of street racing in the incident description on the report (Folkman 2005). Without concise scientific research, some agencies may overlook the ever present problem of illegal racing on their roads, leading to more race- related fatalities and problems.
Although illegal street racing is almost impossible to prevent, as there is not a police force large enough secure every public road, there are certain implications in place currently to help limit this public safety epidemic. One example is in the city of San Diego. In response to the problem, San Diego was the first city to pass a spectator ordinance, making attendance at an illegal street race an arrestable offense. This not only reduced street racing related casualties, but reduced the number of racers on the street. Between 1998 and 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 315 fatal crashes resulted from Illegal Street racing (Knight, Cook, & Olson, 2004). This new ordinance helped reduce those numbers in what used to be one of the highest concentrated areas for street racing. Accordingly, The California Office of Traffic Safety reported that in excess of 800 citations were issued for illegal street racing in 2001 (NHRA, 2004). Due to the fact that these street racers were caught, there information is in the system. Allowing officers to track, and watch street racing offenders.
In correlation to the problem of addressing what can be labeled as “Street Racing”, one must also reveal why it is becoming so popular amongst young teenage males. One reason is the growing popularity of the sport that has been infused into the minds of teens through the media; Specifically through The series "The Fast and the Furious." The first two installments of the series of five movies revolve around drag racing in the streets of big cities with upgraded import cars. All of the stunts in the movie were performed by trained professionals in a closed environment. However, in the movies the stunt drivers always make things look so simple and that makes kids believe that they themselves can race and shoot through traffic at speeds peaking at or above 100 miles per hour and escape without a scratch. Teens do not seem to realize that only in the movies do people pull off wild and inhuman stunts and live to tell about it the next day.
Street racing is very dangerous. It can and has claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people around the world. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that connecting fatal crashes to street racing is difficult but that the year the first movie came out, at least 135 people died in accidents from possible races. That is almost twice as many as the year before. The stats speak for themselves. Since the movies, release a noticeable increase in deaths and other traffic related accidents has come about. Can all of this be blamed on just movies alone?
Another street racing oriented form of entertainment is video games. EA, one of the most prominent game makers has gotten into the fad by producing the series "Need for Speed." The market for these kinds of games are directed towards teenage drivers which all involve import or domestic cars that have been modified to be fast, handle well, and look good. The object of these games is to drive around racing other cars in the streets of urban areas. In these forms of entertainment if you make a mistake or crash, you just come back to life and start all over again, but the same is not to be said if you make a mistake on the streets driving your own car. Other people's lives are at risk along with your own.

As technology advances, as will the police’s abilities to apprehend and prevent illegal street racing not only in America; but in other areas of the world where the same problem exists. The more people become informed on the subject, the more it can be prevented. Civilians have the ability to report on Illegal Street racing events if they suspect or witness them. The sooner the authorities are informed, the sooner it can be prevented.
Similar to the United States and Canada, traffic law is enforced at state level in Australia by state police services. In response to community concern about illegal street racing and associated risky behaviors, all Australian states and territories, and New Zealand, have implemented laws targeting street racing and associated risky driving behaviors, commonly referred to as “anti-hooning" legislation. Since the 1990’s, among other sanctions imposed (including fines, demerit points, and license disqualification), each state has implemented legislation that allows the vehicles of drivers convicted for an illegal street racing offense under this legislation to be immediately seized and impounded by police. The length of the impoundment period increases with repeat offenses within prescribed periods (leal 2007).
By eliminating the threat of illegal street racing in our country, serious injury and casualties can be prevented. The main alternative to street racing is to take it to the track. In many cities here in the U.S. there are sanctioned areas where a driver can take their car and race other cars where there is no oncoming traffic, and ambulances are standing by. Every driver takes the risk of racing at a high rate of speed but if you have an accident on the track you have a safety crew that can be at your side in mere seconds. In the streets it can take up to thirty minutes for a rescue crew to arrive. In an accident, those minutes can mean the difference between a few scratches or the ultimate sacrifice of your own life or somebody else's. With so many lives at stake, I wonder why there aren't enough tracks in smaller cities? From my research of police ordinances around the country, I have concluded that villages and cities around the world not only make an enormous profit out of ticketing speeders and street racers, but do not want to have a race track in their area due to the “bad crowd” it may attract. If a smaller city built a drag strip, they would actually lose money by doing so, but at what cost? By providing racers and novices alike a safe controlled place where, for a minimal fee, they can push their cars to the limits and get the adrenaline rush they crave, without endangering the lives of innocent civilians.
In conclusion, there is only one smart way to carry out a race and that is to take racing to a track with supervisors watching over the event at every instant. Street racing is one of the most dangerous undertakings a person can participate in because a small slip and it can mean the end of multiple lives. Yes, movies and video games can influence people into thinking they are invincible and can do anything, but when it comes down to it, it is up to the individual behind the wheel to make the best decision and to keep our streets safe.

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