Police solve illegal street racing...

By legalizing it. I sure would like to see this phenomon spread. Street racing in one city in Poland was turning into a big problem. How'd the cops solve it? "They got together with the illegal racers and for one night only, every month, they cordon off part of the city then let drivers loose on the streets to go as fast as they like."

Wow, logic and smarts used by the powers that be. No more stupid Polish jokes, they're smarter than we are.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/newsbeat/newsid_7416000/7416124.stm

I've heard of some "race legal" events in the US where local law enforcement closes off a street, has paramedics and firefighters on hand, and lets people do a somewhat organized race on the streets. I don't know how they pay for it but it's not a bad idea, I just wish they'd open more tracks that we can go to any time rather than do this once a month or less.

Honestly, it's a great idea. Hell--I'd probably participate if it were going on in my town.

It would even be worth paying a nominal fee (like 10 bucks).

I chuckled when I read the thread title, I figured it was news on another state/province adopting the "crush street racing cars on suspicion with extreme prejudice" method.

But they actually did something smart :omg:

I'd definitely enter if there were some events other than dragging...they could set up some cones, or block off a circle of country roads and have a circuit going! :nice:

we all wish.. that does not give the "tough on crime" look that people so love to hear about

mad_machine wrote: we all wish.. that does not give the "tough on crime" look that people so love to hear about

Yeah "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" wouldn't look like enough of a crackdown. Crushing works better. :whatthe:

Besides, NIMBY, insurance, "what about the children", hell--the fact that it's a great idea--all of these would prevent it from happening in the States.

Yah, I just don't see that flying, legal wise, in the US.

Land of the free, home of the lawyers (who are revising the first part)...

There are too many tight sphinctered radicals (grumpy ass old people-if you think I'm referring to you I'm not, becuase you are on this site, you are cool). This will never happen here, some law enforcement agencies might be down with it, but some douche will get pissed off because he has to take a 2 minute detour to get to his house will raise all hell.

One word. Liability. One injury or worse, one death and with the help of the salivating lawyers the family would sue the town, the county, the state, the maker of the car, the tire manufacturer, the cops, the company that built the road and the local Dairy Queen just for good luck. Here in the Detroit area there are cities that still won't allow cruises to take place through their city. A high speed event with very likely inexperienced (young) drivers participating. Notgonnahappen.com

Judging by the barriers, signs, banners etc. in the pictures and video I'd the the event looks a lot more organized than "letting drivers loose on the streets to go as fast as they like." as the article states. Granted, the safety precautions aren't quite what would generally be required for a U.S. event, but they don't have nearly the litigious society that we do either.

I say it's a great idea. I'd like to see public sponsored drags and even autocrosses start up in cities here to get racers off the street, and this is a step in exactly that right direction.

I don't kow for sure, but down here, way out west, right on the Dade/ Broward county line there is an eighth mile strip made from an abandand air strip, set up mainly to get the street racers off the roads. Cops approve, kids are having a ball, It has hit local media and all seem to approve. Pretty cool cars show up, too. Full safety, fire rescue, always a cop or two on site.

GameboyRMH wrote: or block off a circle of country roads and have a circuit going! :nice:

Whenever I drive on winding roads in my area, I think of how cool it would be to have a tarmac rally. Or, for those PA people, like the "Easton to Philadelphia Run" running Easton to South Philly on nothing but Route 611. Cars racing down through north Philly, around City Hall, then blowing through Avenue of the Arts and crap that like that, it would be awesome.

GameboyRMH wrote: I'd definitely enter if there were some events other than dragging...they could set up some cones, or block off a circle of country roads and have a circuit going! :nice:

They already have it. It's called Autocross and it's coming to a city near you!

http://www.scca.com/hub.aspx?hub=3

Now, if you're looking for head to head racing, you're either looking at a bracket drag race event or you're getting yourself a racing license...

Obviously, every municipality is different, but most drag strips now have similar events:

http://www.sacramentoraceway.com/sacwednite.htm

I still agree with many of the options submitted here and would do everything I can to help support and promote any additional option to get people involved in "legal" racing.

Given the difficulty of getting new racing venues, anything we can do to support and promote stuff like this is well worth it even if the "getting kids off the streets" issue weren't driving it

If this works out, maybe they can try a one-night-a-month heroin festival......

DirtyBird222 wrote: some douche will get pissed off because he has to take a 2 minute detour to get to his house will raise all hell.

That is the case here with the Dreamcruise. For those that don't know, the Woodward Dreamcruise is the best rolling (and parked) car show on earth (my oppinion, but I challenge you to change my mind). I brought it up once at work and some loser actually said he wished it would be banned because it increased traffic and it took him longer to drive home from work. I live in the same area and it is one of the highlights of my summer.