Hollister
– The California Highway Patrol is cracking down on dangerous
driving as the summer months approach and following the release of
the new racing movie,
”
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,
”
last week.
Hollister – The California Highway Patrol is cracking down on dangerous driving as the summer months approach and following the release of the new racing movie, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” last week.
The movie, which features teens racing and crashing modified high-performance street cars, focuses on a racing style called “drifting.” When the rear wheels are slipping out further than the front wheels, a car is drifting. Essentially, the car slides nearly sideways around turns. Hollister-Gilroy CHP officers are concerned the movie will encourage this “out of control” driving behavior among local teens, Officer Chris Armstrong said. Drifting, which started in Japan, is becoming popular in California, he said. Although more common in southern California, particularly San Bernardino County, many local teens are also drifting, according to Armstrong.
“It’s been going on in San Benito County, mostly on county roads,” Armstrong said. “It’s becoming more popular throughout California, and any time people see something glorified on the big screen, they want to try it.”
Armstrong said many teen drivers don’t realize the racing in the movie is done by “professional stunt drivers on a closed course” and not by an inexperienced driver on a county road.
Besides being illegal, drifting on public roads and in parking lots can be dangerous.
“Speed and inexperience are a deadly combination. Speed kills, and so does stupidity,” Armstrong said. “It starts out with ‘my car is faster than your car,’ but it can escalate very quickly.”
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department is also cracking down on speed contests, Sheriff Curtis Hill said. Earlier this year, he said, deputies broke up a large group of teenage racers who had come to San Benito County after their races in Santa Cruz County had been stymied by police.
“It’s not only dangerous to the people who are racing, but also to everyone else trying to use our public roads,” Hill said. “We tow cars and take people to jail for this kind of thing every chance we get.”
California law bans all types of speed contests on public roads, according to Hill. Being involved in or “aiding and abetting” a speed contest is a misdemeanor, but if any one is injured, the crime can quickly become a felony, according to the California Vehicle Code.
Armstrong said CHP officers will be vigilant in stopping any kind of illegal or unsafe driving practices throughout the Hollister and Gilroy areas. State grants from the Office of Traffic Safety will cover overtime expenses for officers enforcing such laws, he said.
“If your going to race or drift, do it properly,” Armstrong said. “The only place for this type of driving is on a race track.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
