PM to Ban Street Racing

The Conservative government will specifically outlaw street racing, with repeat offenders facing jail, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday.

The proposed legislation will create a new Criminal Code offence of street racing and those convicted will face driving bans and stiffer sentences than under existing crimes involving vehicles.

“We will have a series of escalating penalties that involve combinations of imprisonment and driving prohibition,” said Harper, adding he expects the detailed bill to be tabled in the Commons around mid-June.

The current Criminal Code section covering dangerous driving carries a maximum sentence of five years, 10 years if someone is injured and up to 14 years if someone is killed.

Harper made the announcement at the RCMP’s B.C. headquarters before a group of teens and standing beside blown up photos of wrecked cars, including the mangled RCMP cruiser of Const. Jimmy Ng, killed in 2002 by a street racer who was paroled last fall.

Harper also noted Vancouver residents’ outrage that the two drivers whose street race killed pedestrian Irene Thorpe in 2000 were sentenced to house arrest, and referred to outrage in Toronto when an alleged street racer killed cabbie Tahir Khan in a collision last January.

“We’re committed to a justice system that hands down serious time to those who commit serious crimes,” said Harper. “No more excuses, no more broken promises, no more favouring the rights of criminals of those of victims. We will crack down on crime. We will protect the Canadian way of life.”