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Salt Lake County law enforcement agencies sent a strong message recently to those motoring misfits in our communities who think they can race their cars on busy public streets with impunity.
Street racing is not an activity the public will sit idly by and tolerate!
During a cooperative multi-agency overnight sting operation, dozens of police officers issued some 75 citations, mostly for non-racing violations. The racers apparently got wind of the sting and tried to lay low. Still, several cars were towed to impound lots in accordance with a new law passed last year by the legislature.
The sting operation followed an Eyewitness News investigation where hidden cameras showed the extent of the street racing craze. During an hour one recent night, a camera recorded 28 dangerous high-speed races on a stretch of 4800 West near 1700 South.
KSL commends local law enforcement agencies for working together to attack the problem. Such cooperation is essential since the communications savvy racers are notorious for jumping from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to avoid being stopped.
We encourage the various police agencies to keep the pressure on. At the same time, we urge the legislature to revisit the newly enacted street racing law to consider increasing the penalties for those who so carelessly endanger the motoring public.
