The city of Kent’s going to try to find new methods to stop illegal street racing.
“It continues to be a big problem,” Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said Nov. 12 to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “We can’t arrest our way out of the problem.”
As many as 200 to 300 cars show up to race in the middle of the night on spring, summer and fall weekends on the straight, empty streets in the North Kent industrial area.
Racers have turned Kent into a drag racing destination for nearly 30 years. Police have tried major busts only to see the racers return again and again.
“It’s time for additional steps,” Thomas said. “Maybe speed bumps or something to make it not a desirable place to go. We’ve tried enforcement and rumble strips and not any of it has worked.”
Police conducted three street racing enforcement operations in August and September that resulted in 131 contacts and 101 traffic infractions. Officers also issued 39 equipment violations.
The city also has a Stay Out of Areas of Racing (SOAR) ordinance in effect, which makes it unlawful to be in any SOAR identified area. But the racers keep coming back.
Thomas met with City Public Works Director Tim LaPorte to discuss potential environmental steps to take. The installation of speed bumps could be one option.
“It may take a policy decision by the Council,” Thomas said. “Trucking companies are not going to be happy if they have to go slower because of speed bumps. But because of public safety, it’s time to take more significant steps.”
The death of a 17-year-old Kent boy on Oct. 20 in a car crash with a King County Sheriff’s Office patrol car spotlighted the problem with street racing in town as the boy had been racing earlier in the night.
Before he became chief, Thomas oversaw a major illegal street racing bust in 2008 that resulted in 112 citations as racers used a private lot in the 20300 block of 59th Place South. Drivers came from as far as Oregon to participate in that night’s races.
The Washington State Patrol even provided co-pilots and a Cessna fixed-wing aircraft to help spot the street racers gathering at the empty private lot behind a couple of warehouses.
City crews installed rumble strips in 2008 but racers sped over those at a high rate of speed with no impact on their cars, Thomas said.
Thomas said he wanted to present the issue to the Public Safety Committee. He plans further discussions with LaPorte and in front of the Council’s Public Works Committee before going to the full Council to take action.
Thomas didn’t set a specific timeline to find a new way to stop the racing, but the streets are expected to fill up again with racers once better weather returns.
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