Atlanta Increases Fines and Punishment For Watching Street Racing
The City of Atlanta recently passed legislation that increases the fines and punishments for watching street racing. The move is seen as a response to numerous scenes where street racing took over significant streets and roadways.
As recently as the first weekend in August, major roadways such as Peachtree Street were blocked and became party scenes. While the scenes were often broken up, the Atlanta City Council seemed to want to strengthen the punishments to deter such action. The new legislation increases fines for even being a bystander at a street race to $1,000 or 6 months in jail.
“According to the legislation, violations will be punished by a minimum fine of $1,000 and court costs or imprisonment for not more than six months” the city council said in a news release.
If you are wondering if the Atlanta Police will bother citing spectators, at a number of recent street party/racing incidents the APD did in fact arrest, cite and impound a number of vehicles. There appears to be at least an effort to display a show of strength.
The incidents, while still relatively rare, have increased during the COVID lockdown. With fewer places for people to go and fewer still people on the roads, especially late at night, groups have taken to the streets.
The term “racing” by politicians and news outlets has been used but in many instances it was in fact donuts or drifting, rather than what car enthusiasts may consider traditional street racing. Regardless, expect the rule to be applied to all forms of large scale gathering involving illegal street performance – whether it’s line up drag racing, donuts in roadways or drifting. ShiftAtlanta recommends checking out our list of tracks, drag strips and high performance driving events as a better alternatives.
