Street Racing in Florida

The law office of Eric J Dirga, PA, has been representing people that have been charged with street racing since the offense was made criminal in 2002.  The formal name given to this offense is “Racing on Highway” but it really applies to any public road, parking lot, or trail in Florida.  The Racing statute has undergone some minor revisions since 2002 and it has caused quite a stir in the Florida legal community.  It has been found unconstitutionally vague in one Florida District and it has been found to be not vague in another District if you understand the idea and theory behind statutory construction.

We will be using this blog as the parent page to what we hope are a series of blogs discussing the status of the street racing statute in Florida.  Please look for additional page blogs discussing specific issues with racing, the punishments, the statute, and the legislature as this issue becomes more political.

And when we say “political” it means this law is being used by politicians to advance their own agendas.

POLITICS AND RACING

The first local politician that has decided to make this a personal issue that we have heard about is Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart.  Why?  Because Linda Stewart has decided to run for Orange County Mayor.  Like most politicians, emotional issues to pull on the heart-strings of people are good tools to use to get elected.  We see Linda doing the same thing with street racing.

Linda Stewart has come up with a very unoriginal group called MARS, Mothers Against Racing on the Streets.  This group advocates the effort to convince people to use the private race courses located in the local area for their driving fetish – for that we have to applaud her.  But it is hard to see this as anything other than a politicians tactic to help her get elected.  Unlike a true charity, this group lacks formality and grassroots pedigree.

For more information regarding the law and possible defenses to the charge of Racing on the Highway (Street Racing) please visit http://www.ejdirga.com/traffic_crimes/Street_Racing/racing.htm.