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The Streets of San Diego

The "vroom, vroom" of engines getting ready to drag race may still be heard on San Diego streets, but the shouts of encouragement from onlookers have diminished markedly. It's not that the "sport" of illegal street racing is any less exciting to aficionados. Rather, those who watch can now be arrested and fined $1,000 or thrown in jail for six months.

The "vroom, vroom" of engines getting ready to drag race may still be heard on San Diego streets, but the shouts of encouragement from onlookers have diminished markedly. It's not that the "sport" of illegal street racing is any less exciting to aficionados. Rather, those who watch can now be arrested and fined $1,000 or thrown in jail for six months.

The ordinance has put a real damper on the street-racing scene, according to Deputy City Attorney Linda Peter. Under state law, it had long been illegal for vehicles to engage in a speed contest, but racers largely ignored it, despite hundreds of prosecutions over the years. Along with the races came large numbers of spectators, which had the tendency to fuel other unwanted activities such as assaults, urinating in public and defacing property.

The illegal street racers and their fans used a Web site to communicate and keep one step ahead of the law by moving among several streets. "They would go from site to site," Peter says. "The cops couldn't stay on top of them."

The city needed an ordinance that would effectively steer the action off the streets. After it was enacted in the fall of 2002, the organized crowds quickly dissipated. A spectator who was arrested challenged the law, but an appellate court ruled in the city's favor at the end of March. Other California municipalities and San Diego County, which have similar ordinances, were also relieved at the outcome.

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