Metro Police cracking down on street racing
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NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Metro Nashville Police say they’ve impounded five cars on Saturday night after the drivers were using them to street race. It’s a problem police are trying to crack down on.
They say it takes place all over Nashville, but people say they’ve seen it on Nolensville Pike and I-24 and I-65.
“Sometimes they’ll get three, four across on an interstate, a wider interstate (I-24, I-65),” says Metro Police Lieutenant Michael Gilliland, Traffic Section Commander. “In places I-65 has seven lanes. In some cases, we’ve seen four or five across, bring traffic to a complete stop, and take off.”
Lt. Gilliland says groups of cars will go up to 145 MPH on the road with traffic. He says that’s the reason five cars were towed away on Saturday.
“When we seized these vehicles, I heard everything from “I just gave into peer pressure”,” says Lt. Gilliland.
The cars from Saturday night are now at the Davidson vehicle Impound Lot. But Metro Police say street racing isn’t happening in one specific area.
“I think folks are associating it with South Nashville and it’s not,” says Lt. Gilliland. “Out west to the Bellevue area, the Rivergate area, South Nashville, out 24 all the way to the county line. It’s happening a lot in Rutherford County, Wilson County.”
The drivers of the five cars are now facing criminal charges. If convicted, the first penalty is a one-year suspension of a driver’s license. If it happens again within 10 years, it’s a suspension for life.
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