SEATTLE — The City of Seattle is considering new legislation to crack down on street racing.
On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee heard from the Seattle Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office about the need for the legislation that was brought forward by City Attorney Ann Davison.
The legislation would increase penalties for people involved in these events.
“We need to have our laws matter and our laws are about keeping public order and keeping public spaces safe,” said Davison at the Tuesday meeting.
The proposed legislation would adopt a new state law to make street racing a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail or a $5,000 fine. This definition of street racing includes drifting and takeovers at parking lots or intersections.
In addition to the above changes, this proposed Seattle law would also create a $500 fine for the owner of the car being used at these events, even if they are not the driver. Right now, drivers can get a reckless driving charge, but this would allow the owner of the car to face charges as well.
This does not include stolen or rented vehicles.
“We have had people that have been hit, pedestrians that have been hurt,” said Davison. “It also increases gun violence with people who have been shot.”
This would allow tickets to be issued like parking infractions. If video after an event shows a certain car being used, a ticket can be sent to the owner of that vehicle through the mail.
Seattle police said that they have seen an increase in these large street racing events since 2020.
This past weekend, the Seattle police said there were four different street racing events in the city. At least two of those events had more than 100 people. Seattle police said a pedestrian walking across a crosswalk was hit by an involved car near one of the events and was critically injured.
“There are some pretty significant public safety impacts related to these street racing events,” said Assistant Chief Dan Nelson with the Seattle Police Department. “Dangerous driving, uninvolved community members getting hit by cars, significant injuries. It’s completely unacceptable in our city.”
In May, there was a large intersection takeover in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood. A man who lives near that intersection said it is a problem and that people need to be held accountable.
“You got to come up with some penalties to stop this stuff,” said Willie Lee, who lives in Lower Queen Anne. “It's just like other things that go on. The reason why it keeps going on is because the penalties are not stiff enough.”
Council members discussed looking into penalties for spectators at these events. The City of Kent has a law that penalizes spectators, and Councilmember Rob Saka said he would reach out to Kent leaders to look at that option as well