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35 deaths in 5 years? That's really not that bad, and considering the most recent suspected death is a high school drop out or to quote, "someone who hadn't attended class in awhile", seems like natural selection to me.
Charles Whipple | Feb 4, 2009 4:55 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Illegal Street Racing
My name is Kelly Vick and I am an ambassador for Evo Street Racers for the state of Washington. My heart goes out to this family in so many ways as I sit here in tears knowing the loss they have suffered. My heart and prayers go out to them.

I know because I lost my son Cameron Harbin Oct.15th 2007 while he was street racing in Spanaway Wa. Evo Street Racers and Bryan Harrison have been a godsent to me and my family over the last year.

The other boy who was racing my son has been charged with vehicular homicide and will go to trial in April in Tacoma. I know a lot of people think that him being charged with such a crime is ridiculous. However I do not. The laws on street racing should be as tough as our drunk driving laws or tougher in the state of Washington.

Are kids need safe and inexpensive places to race if they are going to race. I support "Take it to the Track" and will be out at the track here in Spokane in the spring with our young kids telling my tragedy and showing them there is a safe way to race and it is not on the street putting their lives and the lives of others at risk.

Thank you for listening.
Kelly Vick
spanky_kv@ms.com
Kelly Vick | Feb 4, 2009 1:31 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Newsworthy... may be a larger problem?
I will be the first to say that the press pursues the most dramatic elements of a story. Your right the facts won’t be revealed until months later…when a story about this particular issue will no longer be Newsworthy. This is very sad because a life was lost and another is ruined/trying to recover and the facts may never be made public.

Upon reading the comments I visited the website that promotes racing, Evo Street Racers specifically the article listed by Blogger Justin. They have a section labeled “Disagreement in defining the act of Illegal Street Racing.” This may of interest to “D M” to read as I do agree with Evo Street Racers that there is a definite need for reform on this subject.

Street Racing is a crime yet it’s different than other crimes because every state has a different definition of what it is. Even though many states may disagree on how a crime is penalized they agree on what the crime is. For example, to steal is to take property without the permission of the owner, this is undisputable. But street racing…what is it? I guess my point is, if our governments are unable to find a common definition of illegal street racing then how do we as civilians and the media supposed to identify it let alone stop it?

Street Racing needs to be better defined…cars have gotten faster yet the driver’s education system has remained outdated, and the cops cant do it all either. Dealing with the problem of teen aggressive driving / street racing is no different than a Community Watch section, it’s up to us to report that behavior… How many time have you been driving and then all of a sudden two cars speed right past you? Did you call the cops? Probably not. Do you contact the local politicians to see what they are doing about the dangerous driving condition. Doubtfull...

These kids’ needs an outlet to take there speed onto race facilities which isn’t being promoted to nearly the extent it should. There is nothing wrong with racing, I used to do it all the time in my teens, but it was at the local track.

Harrison was right in stating that the cars have gotten much faster. I own a 08 V6 Honda Accord which is as quick as my old V8 Mustang, yet an Accord is a family car! I can just imagine how much faster a V8 Mustang is today! But once again… what is being done to educate our youths to handle such powerful machines?

Either way I can’t imagine losing my child...my heart goes out to her family. What a huge lost.

Things need to change, Youth car accidents are the biggest cause of death in that age group. When I web-surfed through Evo Street Racers website I found that they represent many of the ideas I believe in. It was nice to see an organization trying to make a difference.
Jay Baer | Feb 4, 2009 11:27 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Its time for things to change - Illegal Street Racing needs to stop.
"35 deaths statewide between 2001 and 2007 attributed to street racing" Hardly the truth. After reading this article I visited Evo Street Racers web site and found an article that explains statistics. They say that any stats in today's age are extremely innacurate and list numerous reasons. I would just write the reasons down, but you can just visit the section: http://evostreetracers.com/Evo_Press_Release061.html
The people dying and getting hurt are far higher from street racing than 35 but I agree that its really hard to prove street racing.

The bottom line is that fighting street racing is so hard to stop because no one cares enough to stop it. Harrison and Greenspan are right, street racing, is mostly spontaneous and impulsive. I remember when I was younger and would just go out cruising. There was no arrangement or fast and furious setup, if I felt like racing or was challenged I would race on the street.

I dunno about spending thousands on cars to make them faster like Peak said. To be honest my car was bone stock and my friends only had a few modifications. We were kids that didnt have too much money, just a need to go fast. It was stupid of me and I ended up stopping, but i aint about to deny my past either.

So how do you stop it then? Invest in hundreds of cops or the money for dozens of cameras or simply make it a focus of the community. In fact that same association Harrison works for has it listed as step 2 in solving the problem, involving the community.

Either way too many good people are dying and getting hurt. Things need to change. We dont need to lose anymore people to this.

And the sad part is the only organization IN AMERICA that I was able to find that is trying to stop street racing was the one in this article - Evo Street Racers. An entire nation and only one organization making a differnce; this is truly sad. What happened to the NHRA and the other racing companies? THey lost care too? How many more people must lose there life for a community to care enough to make change.
Justin Meeks | Feb 3, 2009 7:39 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Newsworthy Speculation
This is a tragic accident and at the moment there doesn't seem to be any evidence to support that it was anything more than just an accident yet the journalist have taken it upon themselves to paint us a picture of what they believed happened. "Tires spin, burning rubber fills the air and the quiet night is disturbed by roaring engines." As quoted in the article Sgt. Robert Goetz is unable to confirm if this was caused by street racing or even if there was a second car. It'll take investigators weeks to determine what caused the accident but it will take a news journalist just two days. Its upsetting that the writers of this article have decided to take such a spin on the event without more credible details than "hollywood movies" and their own speculations.
D M | Feb 3, 2009 9:54 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal