Did you guys see this article in the Times?

Drag-racing on I-405
By Amy Roe

Seattle Times Eastside bureau

Q: I'm a resident of Renton and live parallel to the I-405 freeway between Sunset Boulevard and the "S" curves. Every Saturday night between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., there are very loud cars and motorcycles drag-racing northbound on 405. I think they get off on Sunset Boulevard and circle down to the easy-access freeway entrance south of that exit and drag race again. Over and over, all night. Sometimes they start earlier than 2 a.m., and once they did it on a Friday night.

I've called the State Patrol and they have come to stop them almost every time I've called. However, they keep coming back every weekend. We can't sleep all night. It's terrible!

I keep wondering why they aren't cited, ticketed, arrested, or had their licenses pulled. Not only is it reckless driving, but it's completely dangerous, disturbing the peace and a public nuisance. Can't something be done about this?

A: Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Merrill said King County aggressively prosecutes illegal street racing, and the Patrol has established programs to discourage dangerous driving.

"If an area is identified that continues to have an ongoing problem, resources are shifted to enforce the issue," Merrill wrote in an e-mail. "It sounds as though this area may fit that description."

Will the Renton resident get any sleep soon? Merrill said he passed on the complaint to supervisors working that part of the freeway and added that "continued and creative enforcement" can stem this type of problem.

As for the noise complaints, several noise laws govern exhaust systems, but state law makes it difficult to enforce them without actually measuring the decibel level with a noise meter, Merrill said.

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Noisy cars and motorcycles racing on city streets and I-405 cross jurisdictions, and that makes enforcement of the laws more difficult.

But it's not impossible. Electronic stores sell noise meters that give a good ballpark estimate of decibel levels, said University of Washington noise researcher Rick Neitzel. The findings could then be checked against local ordinances.

Renton has adopted the state's noise code, which lists "frequent, repetitive, or continuous" motor vehicle and motorcycle noise in a provision regarding "public disturbances," but does not cite specific decibel levels.

For the city or state to take any action, though, officials would have to use their own, more sensitive equipment to measure the sounds of the street racers.

"That's going to be the big leap," Neitzel said.

Early warning

Kirkland: Crews may close one lane of I-405 in each direction between Northeast 85th Street and Northeast 166th Street Monday through Friday to install signs.

Northbound closures will occur between 5 a.m. and 2 a.m., southbound closures between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Expect closures of the southbound HOV lane near Northeast 128th Street from noon to 5 a.m.

The southbound HOV lane near Northeast 128th Street will be closed Tuesday through Thursday from noon each day until 5 a.m. the following morning, and on Monday from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. while crews work on the new HOV ramps.

Drivers should expect overnight closures of up to three lanes in either direction near Northeast 116th Street between Monday and Thursday while crews re-stripe lanes.

Since dry pavement is required for striping, work will be done on the first dry nights. Lane closures will occur in one direction at a time.

The intersection of 116th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 128th Street will remain closed for up to eight weeks to rebuild the road to meet the height of the new Northeast 128th Street bridge.

 

wow - I live right by there. I just installed my AAM 3" single, TP, and headers...hopefully I'll get my modified silencer done this weekend so I can quite down the exhaust.

 

wow thats stupid... to be completly honest.. i think the cops are all *******s at the streetraces down in Kent. (although i do not blame them) I think they should pick and choose a little bit more carefully. I can not sit here and say i do not race. however i can also say that i go there as a place to hangout and show off new mods. Not to cause trouble and intend to hurt people while racing. If im going to crash and kill myself racing that is 100% ok with me. Which is why i do not let people ride with me while racing. If a hydro plane racer kills himself racing, that is his passion. this is mine. I do not race when anybody can be in danger.

Ive sort of gone back and forth, and im ready to get flamed.

This is just my standpoint, i can also see the other standpoint 100%. id be pissed as well. But guess what... life isn't perfect. Not to be cocky or a stuck up As$hole, but if everybody down at the races took the same sort of responsability as i do when i go, there would not be very many problems

FLAME ON. im just sick of this. IS there a count on people that have died IN KENT on the BACKROADS that have died?...(im not saying its 0, id just like to know, because i have not heard of any yet. although i wouldn;t be willling to bet that nobody has been seriouskly injured from a racing accident... i just haven't heard 1)

 

<flame on>

Street racing is stupid, period. It was stupid back in the 20's. It was stupid back in the 30's. It was stupid in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's.

It's still stupid today.
</flame>

Seriously, a day at the track, where you get several sessions, and where you don't have to look out for the police, usually costs under $300. A lot less than the costs associated with getting a ticket or jail.

I'm sick and tired of all of these "hot shots" who think that getting a license means that you can do whatever you want on the street, and "to h-ll" with what anyone else thinks. Racing got respectibility when people took it off the street and started to organize around dedicated facilities.

I was in a small, local town when some idiots decided to race (and videotape it) into town. They went head-on into a driver going the other way. One of the racers was killed, another is seriously injured, the idiot videotaping it is in jail, and the bystander they hit is recovering. How is that "harmless fun?" Oh, and just because we happened to be in town at an organized motorsports event, there were some people who thought that we were responsible -- even though the people involved were known to "do that" (race) from time-to-time.

Any excuse for street racing is just that -- an excuse.

Take it to the track -- we've got a couple in the area.

 

now that I'm a bit older (only 26) and own a house, I'm actually glad when I see cops patrolling my neighborhood...I hate it when cars go blasting down residential streets (even though I am still tempted to do the same thing).

I don't go to street races b/c of cops - it's just not worth the risk to me. Seeing how I've never been, I can't say if it's actually safe. Either way, autoX, track days, and going to the drag strip satisfy my addiction...plus it's safe enough that my wife is okay with it.

Soccerprep205: from the people I've seen on the streets, you're in the minority for showing caution while racing on the streets.

-Peter

 

Remember the "witch hunt" that was going on in New Jersey because someone said that a specific color Z was racing with someone else involved in a fatal accident?

Don't think for a SECOND that that couldn't happen here! Also, how would you feel if someone else killed your parents/SO while they were racing, but were "by themselves, because they didn't want to risk anyone's life in their car while they were racing."

 

Kent is an Industrial Area with VERY VERY VERY few "innocent" by-standers, the people who go, all know it is illegal and are assuming a risk.

PLEASE DO NOT GET ME WRONG!!! in no way am i trying to justify street racing nor do i think it should be legal. I am just saying that i enjoy going everyonce and a while to just hangout with other car enthusiasts. (like a car meet)

Racing through a neighborhood i can be 100% shut it down.

But i say this once again, if racing were as responsible as i try to make it, racing through an industrial area with 0 cars on the road is somebodys choice.

I thouroughly enjoy autoX and 1/4 mile track days, but its a whole different atmosphere over there.

 

I live in the hills up along the eastside of the Kent/Renton valley. We've lived in this house Since 2002 every so often (especially in the summer) you could hear the racing pretty well in the valley below. I have to admit, it's pretty cool sometimes. But I have to agree that is not something that should be done because a good number of the kids that go there are inexperienced, wreckless and have no idea what it takes to actually race. I'd have no problem w/ street racing at all if those idiots that have no business being behind the wheel of car were not doing it.

That said; I heard an interesting statistic back in 2005. The total # of US deaths directly associated to street racing during the previous year (2004). Anyone care to take a guess? 100? Nope. 200? Nope, guess again. 300??? It was 24. In that year more people were killed by lightning or household pets or falls in the bathroom. (yeah, I know statistics can be fudged to support certain points of view, but only by so much). The point I'm trying to make is that although it is potentially dangerous, society doesn't necessarily condem it because it is killing the youth of America. It's condemed because it p!sses people off, plain and simple. Just like in the article mentioned above.

 

Anyone that knows the Kent/Renton/Tukwila area has seen these signs. But.... taking a liberal interpretation of what they say; does that mean that it's legal before 10PM and after 5AM?

 

^ seems they messed up with that....

 

I just moved up here from San Diego a few weeks ago, and I love those signs. From the way they are written, it seems you could fight and win a case in court if you were caught racing between 5AM and 10PM. What idiot planned the language for these signs anyway?

 

they would still get you for speeding...unless it was a very slow race.

 

I'd take a speeding ticket over a misdemeanor charge any day

 

^ I'm with you there.

Anyone want to go racing? 5AM-10PM only.

 

[QUOTE=drivesolo]Anyone that knows the Kent/Renton/Tukwila area has seen these signs. But.... taking a liberal interpretation of what they say; does that mean that it's legal before 10PM and after 5AM?

That's funny, I've seen those signs and that's exactly how I read the English ; that's it's "ok" to race during the day. (Not really, but the wording on those signs is messed up