TACOMA, Wa. (TND) — Illegal car races are invading American streets from coast to coast, with shocking video emerging of huge crowds gathered to watch highly dangerous driving.
The consequences can be deadly and can terrorize neighborhoods. Despite this growing problem, Spotlight on America has discovered there's only a patchwork of laws and strategies to reign in street racing across the US. Communities have deployed strategies from adding speed bumps, closing roads, even putting out decoy police cars.
Experts say more needs to be done to ensure safety on our streets.
Street racing is an activity on the rise, from Baltimore andPortlandto SeattleandSalt Lake City, and many more communities all across America.Chicago recently formed a task force to try to tackle the problem. Just this past month, Phoenix police said four people were killed as a result of street racing.
The issue took root during the pandemic, when roads normally clogged with commuters suddenly emptied, opening the door to a surge in illegal street racing.
For some, it's a loud, nerve-wracking interruption to their lives. For others, it's the end of life as they know it.
Lili Trujillohad never thought about street racing. She told Spotlight on America she had seen the "Fast and Furious" movies, and had never considered racing happening in real life.
Now, she can never forget a December night in Los Angeles in 2014 when she said goodbye to her 16-year-old daughter for the last time.
"I saw her standing by the door, and I got teary eyed for no reason when I saw her," Trujillo told Spotlight on America. "Little did I know that was the last time I was ever going to see her alive."
Her daughter, Valentina, was a passenger in a friend's car, when the driver was challenged to a race. Trujillo told us the driver took off going over 80 miles an hour and crashed, killing her daughter.
If he didn't race, she'd be alive walking this Earth with me," Trujillo told us. "Street racing. It's what killed her."Lili channeled her grief into action, founding an organization called Street Racing Kills, which strives to provide education to youth about reckless driving. On its web page, there's a growing memorial to the "SRK Angels," those who lost their lives to street racing, including one as young as 6 years old.
More and more communities are dealing with tragedy, including small and big cities.
The insurance tracker known as Insurify says rates of incidents per capita have exploded in states like North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin, with Wyoming being the number one state for street racing in 2022.
Worse yet, Spotlight on America discovered there is only a patchwork of laws across the country that criminalize the dangerous activity. According to Insurify, just in the 10 states they examined, the penalties for street racing range from just a $20 fine to a year of jail time. Because there's no federal legislation about the issue, individual municipalities are left to come up with their own solutions.
One city that grappled with the problem is Tacoma, Washington, just outside Seattle.
Tacoma Police were inundated with calls and complaints this summer, making it an epicenter of the street racing problem in America.
Among the witnesses was city councilmember Sarah Rumbaugh.
It really hit my heart, you have no control over where you're living," Rumbaugh said. "This is what's happening in your neighborhood."Rumbaugh joined with her colleagues to take action, quickly approving a city ordinance that criminalized racing attendance. Essentially, it makes it illegal to be a spectator at one of the events. Rumbaugh said that ordinance has wiped out street racing, eliminating the problem in her city.
Tacoma Police said 70 street racers have been arrested just this year, ranging from organizers, drivers and spectators.
But not every community has enacted the same rules. A Spotlight on America examination of local laws shows only a handful of other places have banned spectating, places including the state of Utah, and the cities of San Jose, California, and Fort Worth, Texas.
As cities continue to grapple with the problem, Trujillo is focused on educating young people about the danger, through speaking at schools and meeting with teenagers.
More than 230 people have signed a pledge through her organization vowing not to participate in street racing. She's also advocating for more designated racing tracks so that there is a safe place to race instead of on crowded streets.
With every step, she feels the presence of her daughter with her.
I feel her with me, talking to you right now, I know she's with me. She's the boss," Trujillo said. "She was bossing me around as a teenager and she's still bossing me around."To learn more about Street Racing Kills and the education it provides, click here.
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