Evo Street Racers: Street Racing Accidents

CHP: llegal Street Racing Is Here

Source: The Californian
Date: March 1, 2008
Author: JOHN C. CANNON

A Salinas man and his 5-year-old daughter remained hospitalized Friday in San Jose, a day after police say they were caught in the path of a street race in north Salinas.

Juvenal Ibarra was in critical condition, said staff at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The hospital would not disclose details about his daughter's injuries, although police said her condition "had stabilized."

The crash follows a rash of illegal street-racing crashes across the nation, including a wreck last month that left eight spectators dead in Accokeek, Md.

Illegal street racing is an "ongoing" problem in Monterey County, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Jim Covello, especially in rural areas.

"You can stand out in these places on Friday nights, and you can hear them racing," Covello said.

But in Thursday's incident, the race occurred about 1:30 p.m., and it wasn't on a wide-open straightaway, which would have been more typical of street races.

Police said Michael Garza, 27, of Salinas, was weaving his red car in and out of traffic as he chased an as-yet-unidentified white vehicle west on Harden Parkway toward North Main Street. Garza's car, moving about 70 mph in a 35-mph zone, slammed into the back of Ibarra's minivan, which then hit a palm tree, police said.

While it wasn't the stereotypical drag-style contest, "you can call it a race," Sgt. Andrew Miller said.

Garza was arrested on suspicion of taking part in a speed contest and reckless driving.

The maximum jail term for a conviction on either of those misdemeanor charges is 90 days. In cases involving injury crashes, however, the jail term can be doubled to 180 days, said Terry Spitz, chief assistant district attorney.

A conviction also can bring a $1,000 fine and 40 hours of community service, Spitz said.

But catching street racers is difficult, police say.

"At a moment's notice, they'll go to a location, disclosed only at the last minute, so they can avoid the police," Covello said. "They race, and then they flee."

The illegal sport is popular enough in Salinas that an entire site is dedicated to showing footage of races - http://videos.salinasracing.com - and dozens more videos are posted to the file-sharing site YouTube.com.

To counteract this growing trend, the CHP is revving up overtime allowances for officers to patrol outlying areas late at night, when the dangerous gatherings occur.

They've also developed another strategy to stall out races before they even begin. Racing buffs often tinker with cars' smog-control devices to beef up their engines.

"Anything you do to change the smog (system) in California makes it illegal," Covello said.

If officers can get these modified cars off the road for this type of infraction, he said, the owner will be less likely to race, because it can cost thousands of dollars to reverse the racing modifications and make a car legal to operate again.

Covello said the CHP hopes this high price tag discourages would-be racers from altering their vehicles in the first place.