CHP Focusing on Sideshows and Street Racing With Grant Funding

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) recently issued a press release about a grant they’ve received to crack down on sideshows and street racing throughout the state. According to the CHP, illegal sideshows, takeovers and street racing are still a major cause of death and injury-causing crashes on roadways in California. Thankfully, the CHP has just received federal grant funding that will be used to focus more resources on these dangerous driving get-togethers and meetups.  

Grant Funding Focusing on Street Racing and Sideshows  

In addition to the $5.5 million in the 2022-23 state budget for the CHP to implement the Campaign to Eliminate Street Racing and Sideshows (C.E.S.R.S.), the $1.5 million Sideshow, Takeover, Racing, Education and Enforcement Taskforce (STREET) grant will also help to curb the number of injury-causing and fatal crashes caused by these reckless driving clubs and dangerous driving behaviors across the State of California.  

In California in 2019-2020, speed was a factor in about 40 percent of all fatal and injury-causing crashes. Preliminary data from 2020-2021 shows that the number of people killed in crashes caused by reckless driving increased 21 percent from the previous year. Like many areas across the U.S., California saw a significant increase in the number of dangerous and aggressive driving behaviors over the last two years.  

Improving Safety on California Roadways  

With this grant funding, officials with the CHP hope to make California roadways a little bit safer. The STREET grant will be funding campaigns that start this month and run through September 30, 2023. The CHP, along with several local law enforcement agencies throughout the state, have collaborated to create street racing and sideshow task forces and social media campaigns about the dangers associated with street racing, speeding and other aggressive driving behaviors.  

If you have been injured or if you have lost a loved one in a car accident caused by street racers in San Diego or anywhere in Southern California, contact the skilled and proven team at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, Inc. at 1.800.GO.HARRIS for a free case consultation today.