new street racing deterrant

[Coop '02Z]

OUCH that hurts
Illegal Racer's Seized Car Crushed
New City Ordinance In Place To Discourgage Speed Contests

Oct 13, 2004 3:43 pm US/Pacific
LOS ANGELES (CBS) The first car seized under a Los Angeles ordinance meant to discourage speed contests on public streets was destroyed Wednesday, and authorities vowed that more would follow.

"This is a critical issue for the city of Los Angeles," said Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton.

"Eight people to date this year have lost their lives in drag-racing related accidents," Says Bratton. "Eight people who should be alive today, except for the mindless foolishness of this type of activity."

Officials presided over the destruction of the white IROC Chevrolet Camaro seized on Aug. 30, 2003. The car was later declared a nuisance, then sold at auction to the Valley Traffic Advisory Council, a police-citizens group that donated it to the city.

In what amounted to a carefully scripted photo opportunity, Mayor Jim Hahn and Bratton donned hardhats and gave a thumbs up to the operator of a mechanical claw when it was safe to drop a huge weight on top of the two-door.

The car buckled in the middle as the weight flattened the roof, then the drop process was repeated several times to complete the job.

Joining Hahn for the demonstration were City Council members Dennis Zine, a former police officer, and Wendy Greuel, whose district has been the site of several street races in recent years, particularly after the movie "2 Fast 2 Furious" and its sequel.

On Oct. 1, two seniors from Village Christian School were killed in what police believe was a head-on, racing-related collision in the 7700 block of La Tuna Canyon Road in Sun Valley.

The driver of the car, also a Village Christian student, was critically injured and underwent brain surgery at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills that Friday.

Four nights later, police broke up a large crowd -- 35 carloads of young people -- gathered for racing in the 8000 block of Haskell Avenue. Two cars seized in that raid will be destroyed, police said. A dozen people were arrested. It is misdemeanor in Los Angeles to even watch an illegal car race.

"This is not a game," Greuel said. "And it's not a movie. It's a choice that has life-and-death consequences, and also has consequences for your vehicle."

Hahn said the crushing is "going to be a dramatic reminder to everybody what can happen if you get caught racing illegally in the city of Los Angeles. We're not here because we want to take somebody's fun away. This is not fun to go to somebody's funeral."


(© 2004 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ) doh!

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

I love how that article glorifies taking away people's rights.

If you read the fine print of that law, a policeman can pull you over, impound your car, and have it crushed all without trial if he SUSPECTS you use your car for street racing. Sounds to me like any modified car, or any sports car in general is now at risk because some stupid politician thought this was a good idea. I've always hated California's politics, but this throws me over the edge.

Don't drive a fast car if you live in California.

[LeeS97Z28]

That just turns my stomach! I think that is terrible!

Sure hope that isn't a sign of things to come!

[Performin Norman]

Wait til the attorney's get a hold of that. Talk about retiring off of our taxes.

[Z Ya Later]

You know, I have yet to have a cop even look at me unless I was blatently speeding. Even then, the worst I've had so far is having them follow me, since traffic was also blatently speeding or I saw them before they got the chance to catch me. Can't really say I'm surprised about L.A. having that stupid law, but it is pretty friggen stupid. Once some rich guy's Ferrari or Porsche is crushed, it will disappear. These idiots need to realize that crushing people's doesn't demote street racing, only ups the stakes. IMHO, the best deterrent would be making more places for us to race legally. As a Bay Area resident, with the loss of the Fremont drags many years ago, the nearest drag strip is either Sears Point (sorry, Infineon sounds stupid lol) or Sacramento Raceway. That means I gotta drive for at least an hour or so to hit the strip, then drive back once I'm done. If Fremont was still open, I would have to drive 20 min. Less gas used going to travel to and from, less that I have to actually drive the car or tow it, depending on the situation , and a closer location means I can get more of it out on the strip...which I would like. I agree it should be illegal, but bigger punishments are not a good deterrent, as some people won't care as much as others.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I was driving down the right lane (2 lanes each way) on a road that I had never been on before. I went around a right hand bend in the road and there was a right lane ends sign. Both lanes were going the same speed. I looked to my left and there was a green LT1 Z28 just behind me with a train of cars behind him and no one in front of him. So I punch it to get some clearance to change lanes. Well he punched it too. He pulled up beside me so I let off of it and he went on. I went about another 1/4 mile and pulled into a left turning lane to turn left and a cop pulled up to my left and slammed on the brakes. I went on turn left while he did a right hand 270 degree turn in the intersection and pulled up behind me. He wrote me a ticket for racing. I told him what happened but it didn't make any difference to him. I went to court and told the judge what happened. The judge looked at me like yea right. He wrote the ticket off and fined me $50 to "clear it up". As long as this crap goes on, I will not be in favor of this law. It give the police way to much power to be judge, jury, and prosecutor and the penalty is way too high if they are mistaken. I have seen cops give an entire group tickets for racing to people who didn't even have a car.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

You know, I have yet to have a cop even look at me unless I was blatently speeding. Even then, the worst I've had so far is having them follow me, since traffic was also blatently speeding or I saw them before they got the chance to catch me. Can't really say I'm surprised about L.A. having that stupid law, but it is pretty friggen stupid. Once some rich guy's Ferrari or Porsche is crushed, it will disappear. These idiots need to realize that crushing people's doesn't demote street racing, only ups the stakes. IMHO, the best deterrent would be making more places for us to race legally. As a Bay Area resident, with the loss of the Fremont drags many years ago, the nearest drag strip is either Sears Point (sorry, Infineon sounds stupid lol) or Sacramento Raceway. That means I gotta drive for at least an hour or so to hit the strip, then drive back once I'm done. If Fremont was still open, I would have to drive 20 min. Less gas used going to travel to and from, less that I have to actually drive the car or tow it, depending on the situation , and a closer location means I can get more of it out on the strip...which I would like. I agree it should be illegal, but bigger punishments are not a good deterrent, as some people won't care as much as others.

I think it will encourage people to run and cause more police chaces.

[Z Ya Later]

I think it will encourage people to run and cause more police chaces.

Exactly man, exactly!!! The more legal spots we have to race, the less street will occur. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the only negative effect of more strips was speeding to get to the freakin' strip lol. That and the friggen morons who are stupid enough to live near them complaining about the "noise", or engine music as some of us like to call it

[95TransAm]

I too agree that more strips are needed. I also agree that something like this can result in more high speed chases. It upsets me that i can't cruise with my friends without some sort of hassle from cops. When i'm cruisin with my buddy who has an 84 firebird, and my friend with his 72 monte carlo (engine is totally done...beautiful and LOUD), we almost always have at least a cop follow us for some time. I hope this doesn't become a set thing. Impounding your car is one thing; it would suck but it's understandable, but car crushing is just too much IMO.

[95z28]

So what about drunk drivers ??? I think that should be just as big a concern. crushing a car is pretty drastic when you think about it . . . wonder what happens with insurance ??

[MN6WS6]

This will never last. The lawyers are gonna tear them a new butt on this law. This will fall off the map, nobody will hear about it, and they'll use this one instance to make everybody think the law is still in effect. Just like noise ordinances, tint laws, and all the stuff down here in South Alabama that used to be law but now is not. 99% of the public thinks the laws still exist.

[Black97]

This will fall off the map

More likely California will fall off the map during a future earthquake. Better buy some "soon to be" ocean front property in Arizona

Reminds me of the souped up mopeds we used to run back in Switzerland. When they caught you, they made you take the modified parts off or if the moped was to heavily modified they seized it. Eventually they destroyed it.

[hotwhip9]

The video was radiculous! Then later on in the clip, it was a 93-96 f body that was involved in the 2 teenagers deaths. I agree, the lawyers will eat this up. I go through the same thing some of you guys do, me n my buds can't cruise around with the tops down without cops following us.

Has any state or local gov't ever considered opening up a track? That would take away from some of the street racing, plus raise money for the gov't while letting kids race in a much safer environment.

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Look at the Celica doing a RWD burn out!!!!!

ROFLMAO

[MN6WS6]

I don't think street racing will ever go away, no matter how many laws or how many cops are on the street. There will always be people that build cars for nothing but top-end, and there is no place to run them but on the street. There will always be high boost cars running on street tires, and they simply cannot hook up on the strip, so they take it to the street. I hear it every time I take my car to the local hangout, "Let's go from a 20 roll", "Let's go from a 50 roll", blah blah blah. And I tell them the same thing every time.

Rule #1. Drag racing is from a stop.
Rule #2. Drag racing is at a track.

But around here, I am in the minority. "I can't boost up in the 1/8th", "I can't hook up at the track", "I don't have the safety equipment", blah blah blah. It gets old, and we all know it's just excuses, but there will ALWAYS be people who use them.

The problem here is that you are taking someone's personal property and destroying it because it was used in a misdemeanor. If it was a felony, then that would be one thing, like they take your gun if you kill somebody. But a misdemeanor traffic offense is not grounds to take possession of your vehicle except for the purposes of impound, you cannot destroy that personal property. This is gonna cost Arnold a lot of votes and it's gonna cost aftermarket suppliers money because people won't want to modify their daily driver anymore.

And yes, pursuits will increase dramatically. They're already going to destroy your car, so you might as well destroy it yourself and get on COPS for your effort