Police in Louisville have made it well known they’ve recently seized 55 street racers’ cars. Last October Louisville passed a street racing ordinance that allows authorities to keep seized cars for up to six months. It also allows for penalties imposed on anyone who street races or does a street takeover, including helping to block off an intersection or stretch of road, or anyone who promotes these events.
Learn how your classic car could be seized by authorities here.
City authorities, including a councilwoman and a member of the police force, tell local station WLKY that the tough ordinance has taken a bite out of street racing and street takeovers. Not surprisingly to us, they say quite a few participants were coming to Louisville from other metro areas to participate in the illegal events.
Fines are up to $1,000 for the first offense and $2,000 for the second, hitting scofflaws in the pocketbook. There’s talk of increasing those amounts to further discourage illegal activities in the city.
Police claim that those who have tried their luck in Louisville only to find they need to call someone for a ride home don’t come back to cause more trouble. In other words, the ordinance seems to be working as intended.
Because people who join in these types of gatherings almost crave police chases, police in Louisville have been employing an interesting combination to catch them once they break up the events. A helicopter provides tracking for officers on the ground, something we’ve seen plenty before, but then police catch up with the lawbreakers using unmarked cars. They don’t try making an arrest until the car stops and the driver steps out, eliminating the risk of a vehicle pursuit.
Perhaps the way Louisville is doing things might be worth studying for other cities with serious street racing and street takeover problems.
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