SoCalRedLine
04-25-2008, 12:23 PM
Hey guys, just seeing if anyone wanted to tear apart my essay. Its crap, i kno... but it helps the whole process. I have a few fallacies, and some misinformation in there. If you are interested in helping, please leave me a negative comment on the way out :D
Format:
7-10 pages
Controversial, modern issue
MLA format
Argumentative/persuasive format
minimum 10 sources.
this is what i have so far (6 pages)
Illegal street racing is very dangerous and causes many accidents per year, sometimes ending with drivers and/or innocent bystanders being severely injured. This is not to be taken as an article to condone street racing, it is a discussion as to the possible solution to reducing street racing. When some people think about street racing, they may have visions of James Dean racing towards a cliff in a “chicken” competition, or they may think of the many scenes from movies like Cannonball Run, Gone in 60 seconds, Dukes of Hazzard, or Fast and Furious. With the American, Henry Ford, being the inventor of the first modern automobile, it comes as no surprise that cars and car movies have, and always will be a big part of American culture. With the current policies and laws being put into force, communities and car enthusiasts must come together and find ways of keeping racing off the streets. The best method is by providing funding to build inexpensive local racetracks, so as to provide a safe environment for car enthusiasts to participate in racing.
It was not until recent times that people, or “concerned citizens” in this case, have had a major problem with street racing. Now there are severe laws and penalties tied to street racing, and many times innocent car enthusiasts can be considered guilty by association. The California Highway patrol website lists the possible penalties that can be assessed to people convicted of street racing. “First time conviction of street racing means: A first conviction on a street racing violation means: Minimum county jail sentence of 24 hours and maximum of 90 days. Vehicle probably impounded for at least 30 days. Owner responsible for vehicle's towing and storage charges ($1,000 or more). If owner fails to pay, vehicle could be sold at a lien sale. Anyone who aids or abets a street race also faces a maximum 90-day jail sentence” (CHP.ca.gov). So, not only can you have your vehicle impounded, face jail time, and receive heavy fines for street racing, but you also could be considered guilty because you were hanging out at a location where the police suspect illegal street racing. That is inherently wrong according to our 4th amendment rights. Car enthusiasts have the right to be presumed innocent, and shouldn’t have to deal with sweeping probable cause due to ‘looking’ the part of a ‘street-racer.’ It would be the same as stopping every car coming out of a bar parking lot under suspicion of drunk driving (a real problem that kills over 1000 times more people than street racing every year).
Recently at a local car enthusiast gathering in Riverside, over 100 police officers and 3 police helicopters blocked off an entire shopping plaza. The stopped and searched every single car out of 150 cars that they suspected of ‘street racing.’ Out of those cars 20 were impounded for various smog related reasons, and 4 people were arrested. It has always been intriguing to follow those people unable to change laws through common civil action (petitions, community backing, local politicians, etc.). So when faced with such unwarranted laws, civil disobedience can be the only answer.
According to the Sacramento Bee article from 2005, $5million dollars is being pledged from the government to stop illegal street racing in California. In the article they outline some of the powers, and ambiguous ways police are able to enforce this new policy.
Under Drag-Net, San Diego officers come to train other departments how to look out for what they believe to be tell-tale signs of illegal modification such as window tinting, large spoilers, extra gauges or racing stickers. Police say this gives them probable cause to stop and inspect a vehicle and its engine compartment.
In practice, "excessive exhaust noise" tickets are the most common violation. California law does not require police to measure sound levels objectively. Instead, according to the California Highway Patrol, the "citation is based on officer's judgment." (Auto Channel)
They even go on to explain in the article, “Drivers of stock vehicles that come from the factory with some of the characteristics of modified cars have experienced harassment under this provision” (Auto Channel). How does harassment and profiling help ‘protect’ the community? And, where is “officer’s judgment” defined in the California Vehicle Code?
If you remember back a few years ago, in the Orange County area, kids that skateboarded were largely discriminated and profiled by police officers. Laws were enacted to allow police officers to arrest and to falsely detain skateboarders for the sole reason of "trespassing" or "defacing city property." We allowed our "civil servants" to arrest our children, sometimes making them out to be delinquents, even if they were just innocently hanging out and skateboarding with friends. It took some time, but people finally caught on. The reason kids were doing this on city property was because they simply had nowhere else to go. When you have nowhere to go to participate in this activity, you do it where you can, illegal or not. Eventually, to try and solve the problem through different means, parents got together and pushed city counsels to create places for these kids to go. Saved the parents of good kids a LOT of hassle, by getting the real delinquents out there that just wanted to deface city property.
So, why punish Automotive Enthusiasts for modifying their cars, under the guise of "illegal street racing?" Why not use the large sum of money to give these “street racers” a place to go. Many sources are quoted as saying, “the liability and noise are of great concern,” and heavily quote the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) argument. But, with Californians continually sprawling out and taking up all of the useable land, dragway’s and racetracks are soon finding that they can make more money selling their land. The most recent dragway to close its gates was Los Angeles County Raceway. The land the track was on was now worth figures in the tens of millions. This could be considered the “end of an era” for the
Back in the early 1940’s and 50’s Southern California was a hub for the “hot rodding” community. If you were into racing cars, or just liked getting your 1922 jalopy up and running over 80mph, you knew about Southern California. Many shops sprung up around the racing communities of Southern California. SoCal Speed shop was one of these shops. They were the shop to go to if you wanted to make your jalopy into a real “hot rod.” Most of the car enthusiast crowd were veterans returned from the war, using the mechanical skills they learned in the service to tweak cars into high horsepower monsters. They would gather around airbases, dry lakebeds, and even local streets and drag race their cars. In the later part of the ‘era’ many dragstrips opened up all over California, even right here in Orange County. Where? Why, right where John Wayne airport now stands.
How many sanctioned, public quarter mile racing tracks there are in southern california? One. One, quarter mile track. Incidentally it’s only open 1 time a month and is so overcrowded, that it is very hard get in. According to an online race track locator, these are the only tracks listed for drag racing in southern California:
Brotherhood Raceway Park Long Beach, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
Carlsbad Raceway Carlsbad, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
California Dragway Fontana, CA Quarter Public OPEN
Mopar Drag City Banning, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
Pomona Raceway Pomona, CA Quarter PRIVATE OPEN
Irwindale Dragstrip Irwindale, CA ¼, 1/8 Private/Public Only 1/8mi
Los Angeles County Raceway Palmdale, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
The site is a bit out of date, as it lists some tracks that have been closed since the early 1990’s. And, since then San Diego has offered a 1/8 mile race track at Qualcomm Field that is open 2 times a month. Is the problem starting to become clear? There simply are not enough places for these kids to go.
In 2004, the California Highway Patrol issued a total of 101,553 "modified car" citations worth $10.5 million according to CHP data" (CHP.ca.gov). So, that's about $15million generated each year for police, just for profiling and citing suspected "street racers." The site goes on to explain that the majority of the tickets handed out are for “illegal tint” and “exhaust modifications.” So, instead of going out and looking for drunk drivers on the road, the CHP is actively pursuing these suspected ‘street racers’ in order to get their revenue for the year. What this sounds like is something known as “quota.” If the government was making $15million off of citing young skateboarders, parents would revolt, politicians would be taken out of office, and laws would change very quickly. Why can’t the CHP spend that $5 million the government gives to fight street racing, to sponsor local racetracks? Simply, because they want to make money at the expense of car enthusiasts.
When are we as a society going to learn? When you take something away from people that they have been able to do and enjoy for years, they are going to find ways to keep doing it, legal or not. Most can agree that profiling and harassment are inherently wrong, as well as illegal searches and seizures (according to the 4th amendment). But why is it allowed this to happen in cases of car enthusiasts? Should we just stop selling cars that go over 65mph? Does the CHP really need another $5million from the government, when all it does is harass everyday citizens? There is an easy solution here, and it has not been covered, due to the stigma that has been attached to “illegal street racing.” The local communities, CHP, car clubs, and local governments must band together to make racetracks accessible to these young car enthusiasts, not punish them for having a fast (looking) car.
Format:
7-10 pages
Controversial, modern issue
MLA format
Argumentative/persuasive format
minimum 10 sources.
this is what i have so far (6 pages)
Illegal street racing is very dangerous and causes many accidents per year, sometimes ending with drivers and/or innocent bystanders being severely injured. This is not to be taken as an article to condone street racing, it is a discussion as to the possible solution to reducing street racing. When some people think about street racing, they may have visions of James Dean racing towards a cliff in a “chicken” competition, or they may think of the many scenes from movies like Cannonball Run, Gone in 60 seconds, Dukes of Hazzard, or Fast and Furious. With the American, Henry Ford, being the inventor of the first modern automobile, it comes as no surprise that cars and car movies have, and always will be a big part of American culture. With the current policies and laws being put into force, communities and car enthusiasts must come together and find ways of keeping racing off the streets. The best method is by providing funding to build inexpensive local racetracks, so as to provide a safe environment for car enthusiasts to participate in racing.
It was not until recent times that people, or “concerned citizens” in this case, have had a major problem with street racing. Now there are severe laws and penalties tied to street racing, and many times innocent car enthusiasts can be considered guilty by association. The California Highway patrol website lists the possible penalties that can be assessed to people convicted of street racing. “First time conviction of street racing means: A first conviction on a street racing violation means: Minimum county jail sentence of 24 hours and maximum of 90 days. Vehicle probably impounded for at least 30 days. Owner responsible for vehicle's towing and storage charges ($1,000 or more). If owner fails to pay, vehicle could be sold at a lien sale. Anyone who aids or abets a street race also faces a maximum 90-day jail sentence” (CHP.ca.gov). So, not only can you have your vehicle impounded, face jail time, and receive heavy fines for street racing, but you also could be considered guilty because you were hanging out at a location where the police suspect illegal street racing. That is inherently wrong according to our 4th amendment rights. Car enthusiasts have the right to be presumed innocent, and shouldn’t have to deal with sweeping probable cause due to ‘looking’ the part of a ‘street-racer.’ It would be the same as stopping every car coming out of a bar parking lot under suspicion of drunk driving (a real problem that kills over 1000 times more people than street racing every year).
Recently at a local car enthusiast gathering in Riverside, over 100 police officers and 3 police helicopters blocked off an entire shopping plaza. The stopped and searched every single car out of 150 cars that they suspected of ‘street racing.’ Out of those cars 20 were impounded for various smog related reasons, and 4 people were arrested. It has always been intriguing to follow those people unable to change laws through common civil action (petitions, community backing, local politicians, etc.). So when faced with such unwarranted laws, civil disobedience can be the only answer.
According to the Sacramento Bee article from 2005, $5million dollars is being pledged from the government to stop illegal street racing in California. In the article they outline some of the powers, and ambiguous ways police are able to enforce this new policy.
Under Drag-Net, San Diego officers come to train other departments how to look out for what they believe to be tell-tale signs of illegal modification such as window tinting, large spoilers, extra gauges or racing stickers. Police say this gives them probable cause to stop and inspect a vehicle and its engine compartment.
In practice, "excessive exhaust noise" tickets are the most common violation. California law does not require police to measure sound levels objectively. Instead, according to the California Highway Patrol, the "citation is based on officer's judgment." (Auto Channel)
They even go on to explain in the article, “Drivers of stock vehicles that come from the factory with some of the characteristics of modified cars have experienced harassment under this provision” (Auto Channel). How does harassment and profiling help ‘protect’ the community? And, where is “officer’s judgment” defined in the California Vehicle Code?
If you remember back a few years ago, in the Orange County area, kids that skateboarded were largely discriminated and profiled by police officers. Laws were enacted to allow police officers to arrest and to falsely detain skateboarders for the sole reason of "trespassing" or "defacing city property." We allowed our "civil servants" to arrest our children, sometimes making them out to be delinquents, even if they were just innocently hanging out and skateboarding with friends. It took some time, but people finally caught on. The reason kids were doing this on city property was because they simply had nowhere else to go. When you have nowhere to go to participate in this activity, you do it where you can, illegal or not. Eventually, to try and solve the problem through different means, parents got together and pushed city counsels to create places for these kids to go. Saved the parents of good kids a LOT of hassle, by getting the real delinquents out there that just wanted to deface city property.
So, why punish Automotive Enthusiasts for modifying their cars, under the guise of "illegal street racing?" Why not use the large sum of money to give these “street racers” a place to go. Many sources are quoted as saying, “the liability and noise are of great concern,” and heavily quote the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) argument. But, with Californians continually sprawling out and taking up all of the useable land, dragway’s and racetracks are soon finding that they can make more money selling their land. The most recent dragway to close its gates was Los Angeles County Raceway. The land the track was on was now worth figures in the tens of millions. This could be considered the “end of an era” for the
Back in the early 1940’s and 50’s Southern California was a hub for the “hot rodding” community. If you were into racing cars, or just liked getting your 1922 jalopy up and running over 80mph, you knew about Southern California. Many shops sprung up around the racing communities of Southern California. SoCal Speed shop was one of these shops. They were the shop to go to if you wanted to make your jalopy into a real “hot rod.” Most of the car enthusiast crowd were veterans returned from the war, using the mechanical skills they learned in the service to tweak cars into high horsepower monsters. They would gather around airbases, dry lakebeds, and even local streets and drag race their cars. In the later part of the ‘era’ many dragstrips opened up all over California, even right here in Orange County. Where? Why, right where John Wayne airport now stands.
How many sanctioned, public quarter mile racing tracks there are in southern california? One. One, quarter mile track. Incidentally it’s only open 1 time a month and is so overcrowded, that it is very hard get in. According to an online race track locator, these are the only tracks listed for drag racing in southern California:
Brotherhood Raceway Park Long Beach, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
Carlsbad Raceway Carlsbad, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
California Dragway Fontana, CA Quarter Public OPEN
Mopar Drag City Banning, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
Pomona Raceway Pomona, CA Quarter PRIVATE OPEN
Irwindale Dragstrip Irwindale, CA ¼, 1/8 Private/Public Only 1/8mi
Los Angeles County Raceway Palmdale, CA Quarter Public -CLOSED-
The site is a bit out of date, as it lists some tracks that have been closed since the early 1990’s. And, since then San Diego has offered a 1/8 mile race track at Qualcomm Field that is open 2 times a month. Is the problem starting to become clear? There simply are not enough places for these kids to go.
In 2004, the California Highway Patrol issued a total of 101,553 "modified car" citations worth $10.5 million according to CHP data" (CHP.ca.gov). So, that's about $15million generated each year for police, just for profiling and citing suspected "street racers." The site goes on to explain that the majority of the tickets handed out are for “illegal tint” and “exhaust modifications.” So, instead of going out and looking for drunk drivers on the road, the CHP is actively pursuing these suspected ‘street racers’ in order to get their revenue for the year. What this sounds like is something known as “quota.” If the government was making $15million off of citing young skateboarders, parents would revolt, politicians would be taken out of office, and laws would change very quickly. Why can’t the CHP spend that $5 million the government gives to fight street racing, to sponsor local racetracks? Simply, because they want to make money at the expense of car enthusiasts.
When are we as a society going to learn? When you take something away from people that they have been able to do and enjoy for years, they are going to find ways to keep doing it, legal or not. Most can agree that profiling and harassment are inherently wrong, as well as illegal searches and seizures (according to the 4th amendment). But why is it allowed this to happen in cases of car enthusiasts? Should we just stop selling cars that go over 65mph? Does the CHP really need another $5million from the government, when all it does is harass everyday citizens? There is an easy solution here, and it has not been covered, due to the stigma that has been attached to “illegal street racing.” The local communities, CHP, car clubs, and local governments must band together to make racetracks accessible to these young car enthusiasts, not punish them for having a fast (looking) car.