Street racing is typically an unsanctioned and illegal form of auto racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles is likely as old as the automobile itself. It became especially prevalent during the heyday of hot rodding (1960s), muscle cars (1970s), Japanese imports (1990s) and sports cars (2000s). Since then, it continues to be both popular and hazardous, with deaths of bystanders, passengers, and drivers occurring every year. In the United States, modern street racing traces its roots back to Woodward Avenue, Michigan, in the 1960s when the three main Detroit-based American car companies were producing high-powered performance cars. Since a private racing venue was not always available, street races would be held illegally on public roads.
Though typically taking place in uncrowded highways on city outskirts or in the countryside, some races are held in large industrial complexes. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well planned and coordinated. Well-coordinated races are planned in advance and often have people communicating via two-way radios or citizens' band radio, and using police scanners and GPS units to mark locations where local police are more prevalent. Opponents of street racing claim street races have a lack of safety relative to sanctioned racing events, as well as legal repercussions arising from incidents, among street racing's drawbacks.[citation needed] Street racing is distinct from the legal and governed sport of drag racing; see terminology below.
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Circuit racing is a common alternate term for race track, given the circuit configuration of most race tracks, allowing races to occur any number of laps. A street circuit is a motorsport racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Facilities such as the paddock, pit boxes, fences and grandstands are usually placed temporarily and removed soon after the race is over but in modern times the pits, race control and main grandstands are sometimes permanently constructed in the area. Since the track surface is originally planned for normal speeds, race drivers often find street circuits bumpy and lacking grip. Run-off areas may be non-existent, which makes driving mistakes more expensive than in purpose-built circuits with wider run-off areas. Racing on a street circuit is also called "legal street racing" with two or more racers involved. Local governments sometimes support races held in street circuits to promote tourism.
Most often, street racers bring their racers to a sanctioned track. This may occur when very fast cars are pairing up and racers or gamblers or both do not want the outcome of the race to be determined by the conditions of the racing surface, since public roadways do not usually offer the well prepared surface of the sanctioned track. These racers still consider themselves to be street racers since this type of one-on-one racing is not usually contested in sanctioned racing classes, especially if the race involves the common street race type handicaps (as seen in bracket racing). Such races are usually referred to as "grudge races", which are frequently organised in regularly scheduled events at the drag strip ("Test and Tune" days). In some instances, the race track shuts off the scoreboard that typically would display the racer's performance numbers. Many street-style racers organize entire events at a legally sanctioned tracks:
Globally, an "official" lexicon of street racing terminology is difficult to establish as terminology differs by location. Examples of this diversity can be found in the various words utilized to identify the illegal street racers themselves, including hoonigan and boy-racer (New Zealand and Australia), tramero (Spain), hashiriya (Japan), and mat rempit (Malaysia).
Because vehicles used in street racing competitions generally lack professional racing safety equipment such as roll cages and racing fuel cells, and drivers seldom wear fire suits and are not usually trained in high-performance driving, injuries and fatalities are common results from accidents. Furthermore, illegal street racers may put ordinary drivers at risk because they race on public roads rather than closed-course, purpose-built facilities, such as Pacific Raceways in the aforementioned city.[7]
Because racing occurs in areas where it is not sanctioned, property damage (torn up yards, signs and posts being knocked down from accidents) and damage to the fences or gates closing an area off (industrial parks, etc.) can occur. As the street racing culture places a very high social value on a fast vehicle, people who might not otherwise be able to afford blazingly fast but very expensive vehicles may attempt to steal them, violently or otherwise. Additionally, street racers tend to form teams which participate in racing together; the implication above[clarification needed] is that these teams may be a form of organized crime or gang activity.[7] In addition, those who race illegally on public roads may have their competition licence suspended, revoked, or be prohibited from obtaining such, per Automobile Competition Committee for the United States policy (includes the NHRA), on personal conduct charges that include racing on a public road.
Dec 27, 2021 police arrested rich kids who were doing illegal street racing in Abuja. [12] Due to illegal street racing a part of a popular road in Abuja has been cited as a racing spot by racers. [13]
Illegal street racing in South Africa has been a problem for a long time mostly in Cape Town. [14] This act causes an outrage on the local communities due to noise, accidents, etc.[15] The authorities develops measures to be taken to address illegal street racing. [16]
In some cases, this popularity has led to tough anti-street racing laws which give stricter punishments (including misdemeanors for attending race events) than normal traffic citations and also often involve dedicated anti-racing task forces. San Diego, in Southern California was the first US city to allow the arrest of spectators attending street races.[22] Penalties for violating street racing laws can now[when?] include impoundment and possibly the destruction of the offending vehicle, the suspension or revocation of the offender's driver's license, or both.[22]
Some police departments in the United States have also undertaken community outreach programs to work with the racing community to educate them to the dangers of street racing, as well as to encourage them to race in sanctioned events. This has also led to a campaign introduced in 2000 called Racers Against Street Racing (RASR), a grass-roots enthusiast group consisting of auto manufacturers, after-market parts companies, professional drag racers, sanctioning bodies, race tracks and automotive magazines devoted to promoting the use of safe and legal raceways as an alternative to street racing.[23][24] Kent's Beat the Heat is a typical example of this type of program. Other such alliances have been forged in southern and central California, reducing the incidence of street racing there. Except San Diego, popular racing locations have been Los Angeles, Miami, Long Beach, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, and the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington.
With heavier punishments, patrolling police cars, crackdowns in meeting areas and the installation of speed cameras, expressway racing in Japan is not as common today[when?] as it was during the 1980s and the 1990s. Still, it occurs on a not-so-regular basis. Persistent racers often install spring-assisted license-plate swivelling mechanisms that hold plates down at speed or picture-proof screens over their plates. In 2001, the amount of hashiriya dropped from 9,624 (in 1995) to 4,365 and police arrests in areas where hashiriya gather are common. Cars are checked for illegal modification and if found, owners are fined and forced to remove the offending modifications.
Street racing in Malaysia is illegal, as is watching a street race; this is enforced by the Royal Malaysian Police. Many streets, roads, highways and expressways in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, and other cities or towns in the country have become sites for racing. Among the participants are teenagers driving modified cars or riding motorcycles.
On 3 May 2009 the Bukit Aman Traffic Division of the Royal Malaysian Police, together with the Road Transport Department, once again launched a major integrated operation to crack down on both cars and Mat Rempit motorcycles involved in illegal racing. More than 115 motorcycles were impounded in the major operation which was held simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.[30]
In Turkey, street racing is illegal. Since the 1960s street racing has been a sub-culture of the Bağdat Avenue in Istanbul, where young wealthy men tag-raced their imported muscle cars. Most of these young men are now middle-agers reliving their years of excitement as famous professional rally or track racers. With the heightened GTI and hot hatch culture starting in the 1990s, street racing was revived in full. Towards the end of the 1990s, mid-night street racing caused many fatal accidents, which came to a minimum level due to intense police patrol.[31]
Until the mid-1990s, the Greek police did not interfere in street racing; there have been reports of police officers taking part or spectating in them.[citations needed] That was about to change when Greek TV channel, Mega, showed a car crash in Limanakia. This completely changed street racing culture in Greece, as the police were forced to crack down on street racing. For that reason a police unit called Sigma squad was created in 1995 which drove high-end sports cars like the BMW M3, the Audi RS2 and the Porsche 930 turbo.[36] The unit was dissolved in 2005 after various crashes and lack of funding.[citation needed] 2ff7e9595c
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