After I-264 and Broadway incidents, Louisville ordinance will crack down on street racing

UPDATE: Metro Council members unanimously approved the ordinance during the Oct. 27 meeting.

Drag racing is hardly a new phenomenon in the streets of Louisville and other cities, but after various incidents over the summer on the Watterson Expressway and Broadway caused traffic issues, two Louisville Metro Council members are introducing an ordinance to penalize those engaging in the contests and "reckless driving exhibitions."

A new ordinance filed by Metro Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-8th, and Metro Council President David James, D-6th, says the “vehicle speed contests or reckless driving exhibitions” in Louisville result “not only in unsafe traffic conditions for other vehicles, playing children and pedestrians, but also attracts rowdy, uncivil, intimidating and criminal activity to the vicinity of the such events.”

That includes “gambling upon the outcome of such events, which engenders fear and disinvestment among neighborhood residents and prevents the full and peaceful enjoyment of the use of their property, or otherwise negatively impacts on the health, safety and welfare of the community,” the ordinance says.

The ordinance, if approved, would ban the obstruction of streets, and says a person “shall not coordinate through social media or otherwise, encourage persons to gather, or collect moneys at any location, for any such vehicle speed contest or reckless driving exhibition.”

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Violating the street racing ordinance would result in a fine of up to $1,000 for the first offense and up to $2,000 for each subsequent offense, per the proposal.

Law enforcement or code enforcement officers would enforce the new rules, which call for impounding vehicles for six months if they are used in the illicit street racing activities, though violators can appeal the impoundment time with the Metro Code Enforcement Board.

Street racing events, according to the ordinance, “have been occurring with greater frequency, including recent incidents where part of the Watterson Expressway and Broadway were shut down to other motor vehicles,” and says resulting damage to streets end up costing taxpayers and surrounding property owners.

The ordinance, filed Monday, defines a “reckless driving exhibition” as any “burnouts, doughnuts, drifting, wheelies or other dangerous vehicle activity on a street.”

In July, drag racing on Interstate 264 and West Broadway reportedly stalled traffic as crowds formed to watch drivers race and perform doughnuts, with one incident on I-264 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport and another by 18^th Street and Broadway.

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In a statement at the time from Louisville Metro Police, the department said it is "committed to curbing this activity, while simultaneously not creating greater risk through its enforcement efforts" and encouraged the public to contact police if street racing is occurring, while noting LMPD is "pulling together its resources and manpower to specifically target those engaged in illegal drag racing and mitigate the reckless behavior."

Over the summer, James noted LMPD has been short roughly 300 officers of its stated full-strength capacity of around 1,300 sworn personnel, and LMPD released a public service announcement in August saying in part the department will use “helicopters both night at day, targeting aggressive and reckless driving.”

In that summer announcement, Sgt. Ronald Fey of LMPD’s Traffic Unit also said 115 people had died in crashes in Jefferson County in the past year, adding that street racing can contribute to the serious crashes.

Armstrong told The Courier Journal she heard from "a lot of people" about the street racing and has witnessed it herself.

"As I would be out on Bardstown Road, I would see people actually popping wheelies and driving recklessly," Armstrong said, adding that late at night, some speeds have been clocked that "were just shockingly, dangerously high."

"We focus a lot on things like gun violence that lead us to lose a lot of people in our community, and yet we don’t talk a lot about traffic safety and pedestrian safety and vehicular issues that cause us to lose 100+ Louisvillians a year," Armstrong said, noting the city has seen 58 fatalities and over 275 serious injuries on streets so far in 2022.

The issue is also "near and dear to me," Armstrong said, as her mother died in a vehicle crash.

"Anything we can do that is actually an intervention to stop that is really important," Armstrong said of the ordinance.

Tom Scanlan, co-owner of Estate Products Inc., a brick and masonry-related product manufacturer located by 12th and Kentucky streets, told The Courier Journal in an email he supports giving police more power to crack down on the drag racing by his business that "has been an ongoing BIG problem for us" in recent years.

"The cars doing donuts have damaged our fencing. Someone hooked a chain around another section of fencing and attempted to pull the fence down, not to mention all the trash pickup," Scanlan wrote. "Our neighboring companies are dealing with the same problem. The donuts even occur during the day, which is obviously dangerous, but also loud and disruptive to office workers attempting to conduct business and embarrassing when customers visit or a new employee is hired."

The new ordinance will first go before the Public Safety Committee, which is scheduled to next meet on Oct. 19. If approved, it would then go in front of the full Metro Council at a future meeting.

Other cities saw drag racing result in new laws this year, including Chicago, where the city council passed an ordinance in June allowing police to impound vehicles used in the street exhibitions and issue fines of up to $10,000.

This story has been updated.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Metro Council ordinance to ban, penalize street racing