Ever been arrested for Street Racing and Recless Driving

[MyExpWork]

Has anyone been arrested for street racing and/or reckless driving?

My brother-in-law was arrested Friday night and midnight. We went to the police station and waited tio 3:30 am.

He was booked for a speed contest and reckless driving which is a misdamenor.

He has no priors.


Anyone have experience with this? My wife is a stressful mess because of this.

Thanks.

 

[AgentStarks]

I think that here in San Diego, if you are caught drag racing they can take your car.... permenantly. I'm not sure if that's just a local law or what. In the past 6 years I've been here I've probably heard reports of at least 15 people dying in street racing. Very sad indeed. Especially when there is legal street racing at Quallcom Stadium, and a few other local tracks.

 

[Stephen]

Both, but it was many years ago so I'm sure the laws have changed. They impounded my car but once I paid they gave it back. I plead guilty, paid a fine, and went home. Unlikely they can just take your car perminantly, your license maybe but not your car.

 

[DMan446]

Last I heard it was something like $5000 to get your car out of impound for racing, and this was for first offense. They need to offer more and better tracks for these kids to go horse around on LEGALLY and I it would cut down on the illegal nonsense.

Yes they have qualcomm there and all but truthfully it sucks. I have been there and they first inspect your car for every little thing. If you have some major power "cheaters" like NOS and such, you cant race. Not to mention the track is only 1/8mile. They need to build some 1/4's and have more of them and it would keep these kids off the street.

 

[spindlecone]

30 days impound in my state Max, what will kill you is the cars are impounded by private towing companys and stored by them, in my local at $110.0 per day

 

[AgentStarks]

I wasn't quite accruate. From the CHP web site:

A first conviction on a street racing violation means:

* Minimum county jail sentence of 24 hours and maximum of 90 days.
* Vehicle probably impounded for at least 30 days.
* Owner responsible for vehicle's towing and storage charges ($1,000 or more).
* If owner fails to pay, vehicle could be sold at a lien sale.
* Anyone who aids or abets a street race also faces a maximum 90-day jail sentence.


Here's laws that apply only to San Diego:

Forfeiture Ordinance passes City Council Unanimously
San Diego became an even more difficult place to illegal street race last week with the passage of the toughest "Forfeiture Ordinance" in the United States. Illegal street racing offenders will now lose their car permanently as a result of being convicted a second time of VC 23109.

Illegal Street Racing Penalties:
Convicted first time offenders for illegal street racing will have their license suspended for six-months.
Cars cited for illegal street racing will experience an automatic 30 day impound costing approximately $850.00.
Offenders can be fined $1,000.00 and face the possibility of being imprisoned for up to 90 days.
If you are under 21, “0 toleranceâ€￾ means that you cannot have any measurable amount of alcohol and/or drugs in your system and drive.
You can be fined for not buckling up while driving.

Spectator Ordinance:
Being caught knowingly participating as a spectator at an illegal street racing event is a misdemeanor crime. Spectators at an illegal street race can be punished with up to six month of jail time or a fine which can be as high as $1,000.


Added:
Last year, San Diegans suffered the devastation of 16 deaths and 31 serious injuries that were directly related to illegal street racing. Three of those fatally injured were innocent bystanders. Most recent statistics show a staggering 49 people killed or seriously injured for every 1,000 who choose to illegal street race in San Diego.

Of the 59 people killed last year in San Diego City as a result of motor vehicle related crashes - 14% (8 deaths) were the direct result of illegal street racing activity.

 

[BradE.]

Where I live, if your arrested for racing, it's an automatic suspension of your license for 1 year, and a hefty fine. Cops don't put up with that crap around here.

 

[Brans Freestyle]

MyExpWork, was your brother in law caught at one of the rice rocket races down by like Krispy Cream or In-and-Out in Oxnard? If so, friends of mine have been saying that the cops are trying very hard to crack down on those guys. If he was just charged with speed contest and reckless driving he might have gotten off easy.

 

[GaSouthern1]

I was caught 2 years ago, my truck that I had for only 2 weeks was sold and I had some hefty court and lawyer costs. I had to do 40 hours comm/ service as well. I was doing 63 in a 45 beside my friend and I guess you could say we were technically racing so we got what we deserve. I sure as hell watch the speed limit and have never raced since, people who race are morons, just like I was that night.

 

[MyExpWork]

MyExpWork, was your brother in law caught at one of the rice rocket races down by like Krispy Cream or In-and-Out in Oxnard? If so, friends of mine have been saying that the cops are trying very hard to crack down on those guys. If he was just charged with speed contest and reckless driving he might have gotten off easy.

They were going home from Fridays or Rose. They got busted going down Gonzales just past Lantana. (corner of Gonzales & Ventura Rd) The cops said he was doing 75-80 mph in a 45 mph zone.

He was in his bro's 2001 pontiac firebird/trans am. He was racing a Mustang and a F-150.

I told him it was really dumb of him to race on that small road in the middle of the residential district.

I would have done it, but out on Rice Roard where there is less traffic and nothing but farms.

 

[ammo troop]

I recieved numerous tickets for "Exhibition of Speed" back in the early 80's, Ahhh, Flaming youth and a 383 big block "sigh"

 

[wingnutkev]

I got ticketed in VA for 102, reckless driving. I got a court date a few months off and heard nothing in between. I was in the navy at the time and we were required to bring a Command Rep with us to any court appearance. So we go with no lawyer just expecting a fine and what not, I really didn't know what to expect, i was 19 at the time a little naive. The judge tells me what kind of trouble I could be in for and recommends I get a lawyer, so he gives me a continuance. A few more months go by I get another continuance for ship activity, i was underway for the next appearance. So tack on a few more months, I go again with a lawyer and a command rep.. Judge hears my story and gives me $500 fine, 30 days in jail 20 days suspended, and 6 months loss of driving privileges in VA (I had a MI drivers licensee so he could not take it away).
The lawyer did no help I really think the judge was just trying to stack up my expenses for the whole ordeal. My command places me on leave and I get out after 5 days in County Jail. My command kinda laughed off the whole ordeal, they couldn't believe I was going to jail for excessive speeding. I wasn't racing or anything.

Funny thing about the whole thing was from the time of the violation till the time I actually got fined and sent to jail the whole time in between was like happy motoring. Never anything about suspending my license in the mean time.

 

[glfredrick]

Ah, yes, those were the days...

122 in a 50 with all 4 wheels locked up in a slide. Thought that the trooper was going to have a heart attack... He tried to rip up my license (in those days they were paper - pre laminate types) and I had laminated it. He was really ticked off when I told him that he couldn't do that.

Ended up that the judge made me sell the car within 30 days (70 Chevelle - 500+ HP 12.18 @118 in the quarter) and he let me keep 2 points on my license so I could get to work to pay my $500 fine.

Weird thing is that I actaully sold the car - bought an old Honneywell fleet van (69 Ford) with a 240 I-6 and a 3 speed that couldn't make it to 55 on a good day. That motor and tranny got ripped out, and I built a 302 with 35i Windsor heads, 190 duration Racer Brown cam, hookers, holley, edelbrock, mallory dual point - roller chain, polished crank, high vol oil pump, and blueprinted - put out somewhere around 380 @ 6500 RPM and hooked it to a full race B&M built C4 (no auto shift - all manual) with a 4.10 Detroit locker in a 9" and ran that. I got stopped several times - once at over 130 in the middle of the night and because the van simply didn't look like it could hit 60 MPH, I got off on all the tickets. On the big one, the cop said that his radar gun was malfunctioning - he "knew" I was speeding, but also "knew" that I coulnt be going that fast in that van... Why would I tell him otherwise? That thing looked like crap on the outside and ran like a racer... actually pulled the front tires going into 2nd gear at full throtle shifts.

 

[JDraper]

Boy am I glad I grew up years ago. Back then they just nailed you for speeding and/or reckless driving (had my share ). I used to run a '65 Mustang with a well built 302 in it, and it attracted plenty of unwanted attention. Now I'm driving an '04 Mach 1 and my wife and I are taking bets on which one of us gets the first ticket! (she's driving around in a hopped up '66 Mustang)

 

[Trunkmonkey]

Have I ever been ticketed? No. Have I ever been pulled over? Yes.

When driving the rally car home from an event I was pulled over for 127 MPH in a 65 MPH zone...which is kind of odd considering the car is speed limited to 111 MPH at the ECU via fuel cut. After a very long conversation with the officer, I admitted that I was going faster than I should have (85 MPH) but, if he handed me a ticket for 127 MPH, I would contest and win the ticket in court by providing the factory shop manuals that state I'm speed limited to 16 MPH slower than he clocked me at. I even offered for him to hand me a ticket for 80 MPH and I wouldn't even fight it.

After further discussion, the officer said he had clocked a modified Civic about a quarter mile in front of me at over 100 MPH but didn't pull out because he saw me coming and thought I was racing him. I had been using the Civic as my radar blanket and dropped from 85 MPH to 65 MPH when I saw the officer. Of course, radar doesn't like parallax, and it reported 127 MPH due to my rapid deceleration (gotta love kevlar brake pads, coilovers, and slicks).

Amazingly, the officer concluded that no one would be stupid enough to drive at triple digit speeds in a fully-prepared race car on the highway, and gave me a verbal warning to keep it under 80 MPH. Things could have gone very differently. The entire time I played calm, collected, and never lost my cool. Had I gotten annoyed and started yelling at the officer for making a bad radar reading, I'm sure I would have had a ticket to fight (or bail to raise).

 

[badwolf007]

The Good Ole Days

Wow, I'm glad I grew up when I did, Back in the mid 70's I was running a 66 442 with a 425 .30 overbore, offenhouser intake and cam pushing 503 HP on the dynometer, got 7 tickets in a .50 hour on Mcknight rd here in Pgh;Pa. cop pulled me over and wrote out 4 tickets,dragracing on public thourghfare,playing checkers with slower traffic, going 40 mph over speed limit,(Our motto was double or nothing LOL).rear tires (g50's) beyond wheel well limits and loud exhaust,(Hooker Headers). As if that wasn't enough his partner got out and wrote me up for 3 more violations that included fog lights after dusk,headlights off, and back bumper too high, (Gabriel Hijackers).I drove home and the next day posted 200.00 and set a court date, went to court and beat them all because the Judge asked why they pulled me over and not the 70 Elcomino I was racing and the cops replied that they knew him. was I a lucky teen or not?

 

[Critical_Level2]

I got nailed a few years ago when I had my mustang gt, at the street races in philly. There are no side streets, so the cops pulled a septa bus across one end of the street and blocked the other end with their cars. It did not matter if you were racing or not, everyone got a ticket for drag racing. They only towed the cars that were falsly registered,suspended license, had neon lights, clear lights, or other non dot parts on them, etc. They especially went hard on the people who came over from new jersey. Luckily my stang had current registration, had cats on (they checked all the mustangs and camaros for this), and did not have any non dot parts on it (visible anyway). They gave out over 200 tickets and towed about 100 cars. This night even got on the news, because this is when philly decided to crack down big time on the street racing. I got let off the hook in court, because I had no prior tickets, and I also told the judge it was my first time and I was just watching, and not racing . I luycked out and got a very nice judge, and she reduced the charge to just paying a fine and no points. My friends and I have been going to the races for almost 7-8 years, but after that night we have never returned to the races. I learned my lesson, even though I was let off easy, I just figure that was my lucky break and next time I won't be so lucky and get a fine plus the automatic 6 month license suspension that goes with it.

 

[ahhjaws]

Never been nailed here, but the "rumor" don't really know what the law is. But if you are caught in a race, they cut your licence in half right there

 

[dmasini]

Got a 55 in a 35 on Rt.1 in Ashland VA. I knew I was wrong (speed limit went from 55 to 45 to 35 all in a 1/2 mile and I didn't see the 45) so I figured I would go before the judge and explain what had happened. He didn't even give me a chance to talk! First offense, 6 week suspended license and a $250 fine for wreckless driving! Wouldn't even give me a restricted license to go to and from work. Needless to say I'm A. more aware of road signs and B. watch my speed religiously...

 

[98XOwner]

wow that sucks dmasini, my sister got a ticket for goin 83 in a 55 and all she got was a ticket, then did defensive driving online and got the ticket off her record. plus she was only 17.