PHOENIX — A gathering of 75 street racers was broken up by Pima County Sheriff’s deputies last weekend, some of those racers were observed to reach speeds of around 100 mph before deputies moved in.
Deputies said that 48 of the racers were arrested, cited and released at the scene.
These citations were just the latest in law enforcement’s attempts to curb street racing in Arizona.
A growing problem in Tucson
In 2019, seven citations were issued for street racing by the Tucson Police Department. In 2020, 17 were issued.
That may not compare with larger agencies around metro Phoenix, but it is a growing problem in the Old Pueblo.
“The Tucson community is tired of reckless and self-centered individuals flying past them at crazy speeds, cutting them off or nearly involving them in collisions,” said Tucson Police Chief Chris Mangus.
“To put it simply: We won’t tolerate a single road in our city made too dangerous for the public to use because it’s a playground for immature, irresponsible drivers.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office handed out roughly 35 citations for street racing in 2019, Sheriff Chris Nanos told KGUN. “Last year [2020], it went up to 45 to 50, or somewhere. This year, of course with last Friday’s arrests, it’s already at 50 [citations issued].”
Another symptom of COVID?
Those who support legal street racing are not surprised that more racers have taking to the streets in the past year. Many organized events that cater to the street racing community have been canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions and curfews. This has caused frustration in the racing community.
“Just this year in 2021, we’ve had six drag strips closed,” said Terry Zimnickas, of the Brotherhood of Street Racers. “One of them is Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix. So, now we no longer have that facility to use, so you are going to see an uprising in the street racing again.”
Both Wildhorse Pass and Tucson Dragway canceled their January events due to COVID-19 restrictions. They still have events planned for February.
The law enforcement crackdown
The Friday night bust by Pima County Sheriff's deputies is one indication of law enforcement’s desire to crackdown on street racing. On Thursday, Tucson police held a press conference announcing their intentions to tighten enforcement of street racing by offering an easy way for the public to report racing activity.
TPD added a tip line to their website’s home page. The public can fill out the form to alert police to areas of activity. It’s a process that Tucson police say they will take very seriously.
“There’s no possible way that public streets should ever be used for this activity,” said Mangus. “It is illegal, it is dangerous, it is completely unacceptable.”
“We can fix this problem,” said Tucson Police Department Captain James Scott, who oversees traffic enforcement. “We’re going to do our job and we are going to do it exceptionally well. But we can’t do it alone. It takes everybody to be involved.”
