City spokesman Paul Eakins didn’t have an answer as of Monday, Aug. No substantive action was taken during the session - only general direction by the council for city staff to look into solutions. Officials at the July 7 meeting noted street racing is also a problem in other cities, though the frequency of incidents in Santa Ana prompted that evening’s discussion. From the start of last year, police also conducted a total 19 street racing enforcement operations. Over the last five years, the city has seen four fatal street racing accidents, according to Santa Ana Police Dept. It’s especially amplified by a novel coronavirus pandemic and public health orders that have largely kept people cooped up at home, and, in turn, increased the perception that fewer cars will stand in a racer’s way on the streets.īut it’s also an issue that invites creativity among policymakers for brainstorming solutions, like reconfiguring the streets or closing some down for controlled racing, even turning it into a community event with street vendors and music - an idea that officials like Councilman David Penaloza mulled over in a phone interview after the July 30 accident. Santa Ana’s street racing problem is a multifaceted one, say city officials and local transportation experts - one spanning issues around car culture, urban planning bureaucracy, and a lack of adequate outlets for the city’s young people.
Two men in their 20s, suspected of participating in the illegal, July 30 race, have since been arrested and charged by county prosecutors. Harbrecht was 67 years old, remembered by his own paper as a senior news leader, “a newsman to his core” who loved sports, country music, and Gene Autry. Can Santa Ana Solve Its Deadly Street Racing Plight? CloseĪ few weeks later, Bacerra’s warnings would turn into reality as a high-speed race between a couple of young adults in the city ended in a fiery wreck that knocked down wires on Santa Clara Ave and claimed the life of longtime Orange County Register editor Gene Harbrecht, whose truck was hit by a BMW involved in the race.
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