Captain Raymond Jones with the Metro Nashville Police Department said agencies all over Tennessee share the need to do more.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Metro Nashville Police Department (NPD) has teamed up with state lawmakers to stop street racing.
In 2023, there were five deaths in Davidson County related to street racing, according to the MNPD. So far this year, the MNPD said that there have been no street racing-related deaths. The MNPD has started to work with the state legislature to help lawmakers understand the full scope of the crime. Street racers’ speeds can exceed 125 miles per hour.
However, a representative with the MNPD said that drivers engaging in street racing are difficult to pull over. The person often continues driving, which could create unsafe road conditions for others. Instead, officers could track and catch those drivers with the use of their aviation unit.
Recently passed legislation has worked to curb the speeds, increasing both penalties and enforcement on the streets. One of the laws passed changed intentionally blocking a roadway from a misdemeanor to a felony. Some residents told News 2, though, that more needs to be done.
“If you are convicted and fined, we have to make that a federal offense in regards to you having to serve every day of that sentence,” the director of Fairlane Park Neighborhood Association in South Nashville, Jeff Sexton, said.
“I want to see clear language about if you come in and are accused of street racing, your vehicle could be subject to seizure,” Antioch resident Anthony Coon said.
“The department has been combatting this for the last five years and had great success,” captain of the MNPD Traffic Division, Raymond Jones, said. “But it seems like [for] every win we have, there’s another incident of street racers we have to combat.”
Jones added that police departments all over Tennessee share the need to do more. Some departments have offered lawmakers insight to help develop legislation further.
“Right now, we are in the process of getting some wording and definitions together to submit because none of the definitions, as it relates to street racers, is in the current legislation,” Jones said.
The report will be submitted by the end of the year. Metro Councilmember Joy Styles shared a statement with News 2, stating that accountability for street racing offenders was imperative:
“It is very encouraging to know that the state is looking into holding these street racers accountable by creating a charge for burnouts and drifting. Accountability is imperative. Destruction of public and private property is unacceptable. Many of these individuals shut down our streets and highways with no concern for others’ safety or their own. Antioch is patient zero for street racing and we need to use all tools to bring it under control. Next, I hope we have a regular presence from the traffic division to enforce traffic violations in our land of the fast and furious.”