KENT, Wash. - Seattle police say a street race caused the crash that flipped two cars just south of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The driver of one car is in jail. The driver he hit and two passengers were hospitalized.
But we are also learning that organized street racing may be on the decline, at least in one community. The city of Kent is cracking down. And its efforts appear to be paying off.
Kent is well known for street-racing, with its wide streets in the warehouse district, long straight stretches where late night racing was the norm, especially in the summertime.
"Often times they can be going 80-100 miles per hour," said Sgt. Pat Lowery.
Speed bumps have significantly slowed things down in what were the hot racing spots.
"Makes it very uncomfortable to race over those things," said Lowery.
That, along with more enforcement and tighter laws, trespassing prohibited and no loitering.
"It seems to be working really well," said Lowery.
Racing-related arrests are down from about 300 in 2006 to just 100 last year.
Seattle Police blame street racing for a crash Tuesday night that sent one car off the end of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Both cars came to rest, upside down.
Amazingly no one was seriously hurt. The driver of a red Honda Civic now faces vehicular assault charges.
Felicita Gonzales got the call Tuesday night. Her 30-year-old nephew wasn't just injured, he was being blamed for causing the crash.
"I don't understand why the police say that because he is a nice person," said Gonzales.
The man was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of vehicular assault after he was released from the hospital.
Kent may have put the brakes on "organized" road racing, but the kind of accidents like the one in Seattle Tuesday night are a much harder problem to tackle.
"You have two drivers going down the road they suddenly see each other, the will to race is there, and they're off," said Lowery.
Organized racing in Seattle is not as big a problem, not as many wide open spaces.
As for Kent, police arrested about 100 street racers last year, compared with 300 just a few years ago.
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