Street racing may have contributed to the fatal wreck Sunday on Northeast Loop 820, according to witnesses. In Texas, street- racing crashes killed 26 people in 2005, according to recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If caught racing, drivers can be arrested and charged with racing on a highway, a Class B misdemeanor. A driver faces a maximum of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. That charge could be upgraded to a Class A misdemeanor if the driver has a previous racing arrest, was intoxicated or had an open container of alcohol in the vehicle. A driver convicted of a Class A misdemeanor faces up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
The wreck on Sunday surely made a huge impression on those who saw it. Some of them read a news article on star-telegram.com and were compelled to share their experiences.
From Eilene Baze, Fort Worth:
"I did not see the whole thing I just saw the car in the air coming at the Westbound lanes. It rolled a million times as cars scrambled out of the way ... The car was so high in the air when I first noticed it then it began rolling towards me."
From Rick Moschinger:
"The car must have flown at least 25 feet in the air! It looked like a piece of flying plywood. Not a car. IT WAS THAT HIGH UP! Raining debris on all of us. He must have flipped three times in the air and about 7 or 8 times on the ground. I ran up to the car as it settled ... I yelled to driver to see if he was responsive. Nothing ... I then realized that there was nothing that I could do."
-- Bill Miller
Dallas Mavericks star Josh Howard was arrested in his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., on Thursday on suspicion of street racing, according to police.
