Global Courant 2023-05-20 03:24:45
A car hurtling through the air in a high-speed action movie doesn’t follow the same laws of physics in the real world, and law enforcement officials are hoping to drive that point home in a new anti-street racing campaign unveiled this week.
The California Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies launched the campaign by staging a baby blue Lamborghini crashed into a light pole on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
The attempt to deter street racing comes as “Fast X” is released nationwide on Friday, in what promises to be the final entry in the “Fast and Furious” auto racing action franchise starring Vin Diesel.
Street racing in movies can influence real-world copycats who think they too can drive on the street like a stunt driver, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference Thursday.
“The popularity of movies like the ‘Fast and Furious’ series and their upcoming latest release, we believe, are likely to influence copycats as the movie glorifies this very dangerous activity,” Moore said. “Movies like this are fantasies.”
It makes sense that law enforcement and others would take advantage of the film’s release to remind the public of the dangers of street racing, said Lili Trujillo Puckett, founder of Street Racing Kills, an advocacy group that shares testimonials from street racing survivors and family members. victims of racing.
“Some people know it’s movie magic, but there are people who seek the thrill of speed after seeing a movie,” Puckett said in an interview Friday.
Puckett formed Street Racing Kills after her 16-year-old daughter, Valentina, was killed in a car accident in 2013 after the driver who was giving her a ride tried to race the car and wrecked it. When she founded the group the following year, Puckett felt alone and did not see much resource from law enforcement or legislators in the fight against street takeovers and racing.
On Thursday, she joined police chiefs on Melrose Avenue in adding her voice to the effort.
“It feels really great to see the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD come together,” Puckett said. “We’ve seen an increasing proliferation of task forces to combat street racing, not just here in Los Angeles, but we’re talking about racing all over the United States.”
The “Fast and Furious” franchise had its humble beginnings in the Angelino Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The first film, released in 2001, featured prominently the neighborhood, which over the years has become something of a mecca for street racers and movie buffs who race the streets performing donuts with their cars.
During the filming of “Fast X” in August, protesters marched through the neighborhood demanding more efforts from the city to fight copycats.
Rene Favela, a resident of the neighborhood, was angry at the time about black tire tracks on the street outside his home. But the city recently redesigned the street, with bollards and other barriers narrowing a major intersection in front of Bob’s Market, an iconic location in the “Fast and Furious” movies.
“It’s not as bad as before,” Favela said on Friday. “The work they’ve done made it a little more challenging if someone wants to try donuts for the store.”
He has also noticed an increase in police patrols in the neighborhood and speeding tickets being handed out.
“What you’re not going to change in that particular neighborhood is the fans and the tourists, because the movies have made street racing very popular,” said Favela.
Illegal street racing and takeovers peaked during the first few months of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns and have spread across the country, according to law enforcement agencies.
The CHP responded to more than 7,300 reported incidents statewide in 2021, involving nearly 123,000 people. The number of reported incidents fell dramatically in 2022, according to the CHP, but the issue still poses a risk to the public.
“Our highways, railroads and bridges are illegally closed, preventing people from reaching emergency rooms in some cases and simply being late for work in others,” said California Highway Patrol Deputy Commissioner Troy Lukkes. during the press conference. “These illegal and dangerous activities endanger human life, damage public and private property and, in some cases, have even resulted in the death of innocent people.”
