Street racing / Kenneth J. Peak, Ronald W. Glensor.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Peak, Kenneth J., 1947-

Contributor:

Glensor, Ronald W.

Series:

Problem-oriented guides for police. Problem-specific guides series ; no. 28.

Problem-oriented guides for police. Problem-specific guides series ; no. 28

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Traffic violations--United States.

Traffic violations.

Teenage automobile drivers--United States.

Teenage automobile drivers.

United States.

Physical Description:

vii, 47 pages : digital, PDF file.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, [2004]

Summary:

After reviewing the problem of "street racing" (using public streets to race cars) and its causes, this guide presents a checklist for analyzing a local street-racing problem, describes responses to the problem, and presents evaluative findings on police responses to street racing. Although casualties from street racing have not been tracked by government nor the insurance industry, an examination of news reports and police data from 10 major U.S. cities and extrapolation based on national population figures indicates that at least 50 people die each year as a result of street racing. Street racing is a logical extension of youths' attraction to motor vehicles and the competitive measure of a vehicle's performance (speed) and driver skill. Enamored with the car-racing tradition, street racers organize elaborate racing functions that involve "flaggers," timekeepers, lookouts with computers mounted in their cars, cell phones, police scanners, and Web sites that announce race locations and calculate the odds of getting caught by the police. The harms related to street racing include vehicle crashes, noise, vandalism, loss of commercial revenue, and excessive deterioration of public streets. Steps in mounting an effective response to street racing are an analysis of the nature and extent of the local problem, enlistment of community support for addressing the problem, the education of and warning to street racers, surveillance of the street-racing scene, encouragement of others to exercise informal control over street-racing participants, the enactment and enforcement of relevant ordinances and statutes, the impounding and/or forfeiting of vehicles involved in street racing, encouraging the support of private businesses, closing streets attractive to street racers, and encouraging and facilitating the relocation of street racing to a legal racing area. 52 notes, 33 references, 16 annotated recommended readings, and appended summary of responses to street racing.

Contents:

About the Problem-Specific Guides Series

Acknowledgements

The problem of street racing

Understanding your local problem

Responses to the problem of street racing

Appendix. Summary of responses to street racing

Endnotes

References

About the Authors

Recommended readings

Other problem-oriented guides for police.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed on July 3, 2006).

"December 2004."

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1932582428

9781932582420

OCLC:

58534163