Flagged Down

There is no thrill quite like the adrenaline rush from racing down the highway at a hundred miles an hour at the edge of disaster. Unless you're everybody else on the highway.

Speed demons will have to pull off the road or face the even more exciting challenge of the criminal justice system:

Street racers who put innocent lives at risk should lose their cars, lose their licence for life and spend time in jail, say police and others battling a deadly street racing culture that has claimed 31 lives in Greater Toronto since 1999.

Police and safety advocates were quick to chime in after Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed yesterday to create a new Criminal Code offence for street racing and stiffer sentences aimed at curbing wild and extreme driving.

....

But the devil is in the details, say advocates. Catching speeders is one thing, but police have found that proving they were racing is much more difficult. They hope this new law will lessen the burden of proof, says Brian Patterson, president of the Ontario Safety League.

"Every time they tried to do this in the past, they get themselves caught up in what constitutes a race," said Patterson. "Did money change hands? Do you have to have onlookers, do you have to have wagers, do you have to drop a flag? Was there an agreement between parties? Is winking at each other at a stop light and racing like hell to the next set of lights, does that constitute a race?"

"Excessive speed should be sufficient to warrant the sanctions identified."

Everybody else on the road didn't ask to join the race and risk injury or death.

Take it to the track. Just take it off the streets.

Source: Toronto Star