LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It has been almost one year since Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) and Metro Council feel they have given "teeth" to their street racing response.
"One thing that we can say is with the support of the council...we know that these tools that we're utilizing have been successful at preventing a lot of what would have happened had we not had those tools," Sgt. Ronald Fey said, who works with LMPD's traffic unit.
On Oct. 27, 2022, Metro Council amended Chapter 71 of the city code to allow drivers participating in drag racing, street takeovers or parking lot takeovers to be fined $1,000 on first offense, and $2,000 for every offense afterwards. They can also have their car seized for up to six months.
On April 27, the ordinance was amended again to specify that people who use their cars to block intersections are also subject to these fines and impoundments. The passage at the time said, "impoundment generally, rather than fines, has proven to be a greater deterrent of the activity."
"We're not gonna be tolerating this. The community is behind us, and we work for the community, and they want us to address it," Fey said.
Using the ordinance in 2023, 55 cars have been impounded and 37 arrests have been made connected to street racing. Some were just "citation arrests" to fine and tow the person's car, while other people were booked into Metro Corrections if they were reportedly doing something very dangerous or had enough additional violations.
The city has only really been tracking street racing since the ordinance was passed, and so Fey wasn't able to say for sure that the number of street takeovers and exhibitions has gone down in 2023.
"So prevention is very difficult to put a number on prevention," Fey said. "One thing we can -- that we can definitely show -- is the direction it was going prior to this ordinance coming out. And then once this tool is made available, it has cut that number significantly down."
The 55 impoundments is up from zero the year before, and the only other proof Fey and LMPD provided that the ordinance was working was statements that there are less large street racing events in Louisville attracting out-of-state guests.
Metro Councilwoman Donna Purvis, who represents the Portland neighborhood, said she has seen the ordinance be effective.
"We are seeing a decrease," she said. "Unfortunately our decrease has been moved to other regions like Cincinnati and Indianapolis. So, the bad players know that we are here. And we are applying the law to stop their illegal activities."
The biggest illegal street racing event in her district this year was a street takeover at the corner of Portland Ave. and North 33rd Street in June. She said to her, these street takeovers where people get in the middle of an intersection and videotape cars doing donuts around them is the most dangerous type of street racing.
"It interferes with -- for example -- if an ambulance is trying to get through there or a firetruck, they cannot do that," she said.
The cost of human life is evident to Purvis and Fey, as police have investigated four fatalities connected to street racing this year. They hope hitting these racers in their wallets and wheels will convince them to spend their weekend nights doing something else.
"Stop. Ya know, and like I mentioned before Derby, don't come here and think you can do what you wanna do," Purvis said. "You better have deep pockets."
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.