AAA Urges Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing
posted 6:23 am Tue February 19, 2008 - ACCOKEEK, Md.
Police and local residents say street racing has long been a problem on the flat stretch of divided highway where the crash occurred, as well as in other parts of southern Maryland. AAA spokesman Mahlon Anderson is calling for stepped-up enforcement and steeper penalties for racing-related violations to combat the problem.
According to AAA, more than 100 people die and thousands are injured every year in street-racing crashes around the country.
aturday, a car plowed into a group that had spilled onto the road after watching two racing cars speed off on Indian Head Highway. No charges have been filed against the driver that struck the crowd. Police say the driver was not connected to the race and that smoke from the spinning tires of the cars that were racing may have obscured the crowd.
Police and local residents say street racing has long been a problem on the flat stretch of divided highway where the crash occurred, as well as in other parts of southern Maryland. AAA spokesman Mahlon Anderson is calling for stepped-up enforcement and steeper penalties for racing-related violations to combat the problem.
According to AAA, more than 100 people die and thousands are injured every year in street-racing crashes around the country.
Latest Comment on AAA Urges Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing
Headache130
11:49 pm on 02/19/08
Unfortunately here in PG County, very seldom, if at all, are harsh penalties handed down for traffic offinses. For example, if you are arrested for driving while suspended, all you have to do is come to court with a valid driver's license and they drop the charges. Driving while suspended in Maryland carries a max penalty of 90 days in jail and up to a $1000 fine. While in some counties people may go to jail for driving while suspended, in PG county that doesn't happen. The courts have to start taking this more seriously rather than the police, because the police can only do so much.
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