Many people are aware that you can be ticket for street racing in Florida but did you know you can be ticketed for watching a street race as well? There is a law that allows law enforcement to ticket people as spectators to street racing. This law was passed to try an end illegal drag racing by making it a crime to watch the participants. The Statute is 316.191(3) and is punishable by three points on your Florida driver’s license, a max fine of $500 and a possible court-ordered traffic school but as you will read below those penalties are about to increase.
The penalties for illegal street racing in Florida are about to get stiffer. The Luis Ortega Street Racing Act was passed unanimously this year by the Florida Senate and is now just awaiting a signature to make it law. The bill is named after a 15-year-old who was killed while riding his bike. The car that hit him was an alleged street racer. Under the new law there is an option for a driver license revocation, more provisions surrounding impounding the car used in the street race and it will now be required that the driving record of the racer be provided to the court.
In an effort to enforce this law and hand out Florida traffic citations, police officers will often box in the road where the illegal street racing is taking place and trap the racers and the spectators in. At that point they will begin to write traffic tickets to everyone who is present. Even if you are just sitting there you will most likely receive a ticket for a moving violation. When police make a bust for illegal drag racing, there are very few questions asked just tickets handed out.
According to numbers reported on various websites, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded there were 235 fatal crashed linked to illegal street racing in 2001. That was double the number from the previous year. In 2001, there were a reported 7,216 traffic tickets issued for illegal street racing.
