Drag Racing Surge Continues In 2021 As NYC Roads Become Speedways

NEW YORK, NY — Carl Sullivan is no stranger to the sounds of the city.

A New Yorker since 1996, the Sunnyside resident said he's accustomed to the usual traffic noise that hums through the five boroughs.

That was until last year, when the coronavirus pandemic cleared out the streets, bringing racing motorcycles, off-road dirt bikes, mopeds and souped-up cars to his block at all hours of the night.

A year later, he still wakes up to the noise of altered, speeding motors despite a fan and white noise machine set up to drown it out.

"I call it the 'Fast and the Furious' effect," Sullivan told Patch. "These drivers want to show off and be noticed... Suddenly 43rd Street seems like the Indy 500."

Sullivan — who's called both 911, when drivers speed the wrong way, and 311 — is not alone.

In fact, he's among hundreds of New Yorkers whose streets have been turned into drag racing tracks in the last year. It's a problem that, according to 311 data, not only hasn't abated since regular traffic returned to New York City, but has gotten worse.

By The Numbers

More than 1,200 New Yorkers have called 311 to complain about drag racing vehicles in the last four months, nearly double the 663 calls that came in during the same time period in 2020 and 10 times the complaints logged in pre-pandemic 2019, data shows.

The complaints, from March 20 to July 13, are highest in many of the same ZIP codes where hotspots appeared last year, namely in the outer boroughs and Upper Manhattan.

• Read Patch's 2020 Study: Drag Racing Complaints Quadruple As Coronavirus Limits Traffic

By far the most complaints have come from a ZIP code not far from Sullivan in Queens, where a staggering 150 complaints have been made since March. The next highest ZIP code, in Inwood, saw 58 complaints during the same time period.

In Inwood, Jaime Harkin said the drag racing has been so bad that she regularly hears the noise both at home and when she escapes for a summer evening in the park with her family.

"...You're just talking, hanging out with your kid and these insanely loud vehicles start speeding around, revving their engines and you can't hear anything else," she said.

Harkin said the noise, at least in her experience, has gotten worse this year than in 2020. Though that spring is a bit of "a blur," she said, she doesn't remember the speedsters taking over the streets as early in the year as they have in 2021.

"Based on the noise you would genuinely think I lived very close to a race track, not in the middle of a small, residential area," Harkin added.

By borough, Queens as a whole saw 427 complaints during the 2021 time period, which was chosen based on the stay-at-home order last year, which is when the surge seemed to begin.

Manhattan saw the second-most calls in 2021 with 259 complaints. There were 244 in Brooklyn, 176 in the Bronx, 32 in Staten Island and 66 without a location during the time period.

More Than A Nuisance

All New Yorkers Patch spoke with said they worry about the drag racing vehicles not only because of the noise, but because of the danger posed to the neighborhood.

Sullivan said, most times, the caravan of as many as 50 cars will include drivers speeding the wrong way toward oncoming traffic.

A neighbor who lives by West Street in Lower Manhattan told Patch speeding cars have become a problem not just when they race at night, but at all times of day.

"They swerve in and out and are putting everyone at risk," said the neighbor, who asked not to be named.

Data from the NYPD shows that speeding, or at least those caught, has become more common this year than pre-pandemic. In 2019, speeding made up just 15 percent of all traffic summonses issued in New York City, a number that jumped to 22 percent in 2021, according to data through June of each year.

Traffic fatalities are also up. With 243 traffic deaths, 2020 became the deadliest year on record since Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero street safety plan was put in place in 2014, according to data.

2021 is likely to follow suit — there had already been 100 fatalities across the city as of the end of May, data shows.

What Can Be Done?

The danger of street racing is part of the reason legislators have been searching for ways to curb the surge, including a bill inspired by the mid-pandemic spike in the state legislature.

The bill, known as the FURIOUS Act, would crack down on drag racing by extending the hours of speed cameras and changing traffic laws that make it difficult to hold drivers accountable.

That lack of accountability is part of the reason the number of speedsters has only increased as the months drag on, according to State Sen. Brad Hoylman, one of the sponsors of the bill.

"There's no enforcement so the perpetrators, whether they're speed racing or using altered vehicles...they're getting away with it," Hoylman told Patch, adding that more free time or job loss during the coronavirus crisis likely contributes to the number of people participating, too. "There is a sense that if you do break the law you won't be held accountable."

All neighbors Patch spoke with about drag racing in their neighborhood said they have had no success contacting police or 311 about the activity.

For its part, the NYPD pointed to the increased number of speeding summonses as a sign they are "laser focused" on combatting dangerous driving.

"Despite a reassignment in personnel, to combat gun violence, the NYPD continues to conduct Vision Zero traffic safety initiatives citywide each month," a spokesperson told Patch. "These initiatives include the Vision Zero High Visibility Enforcement corridors, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safe Passage initiatives, as well as having our Highway Patrol officers focusing on speed and impaired driving during hours of darkness when it is most prevalent."

Though it has not yet passed the FURIOUS Act, the legislature has taken other action surrounding the issue.

This year, the state passed a ban on the installation and sale of devices that make cars and bikes louder and increased the fine for those caught with the noise-enhancing alterations.

Another newly-passed law inspired by a 12-year-old killed in Brooklyn will allow the city to lower speed limits to calm traffic, according to Hoylman.

Next on the docket, the FURIOUS Act, would make it so speed cameras can be turned on at all hours of the day instead of current rules limiting them to weekdays between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., before the majority of speed racing occurs.

It would also amend a part of the law that only allows cops to charge drivers with illegal street racing if they can prove the race was "pre-planned."

"We think that is a laughable requirement," Hoylman said.

The senator said he is hopeful the FURIOUS Act will be passed in the next legislative session, though he noted that such measures are difficult in Albany where, due to suburban districts, the "mentality of the driver wins the day."

"The most mundane and technical components of making our streets safer are in the hands of Albany with the mindset that you're going to have to pry the legislature's cold, dead hands from the power to set these types of rules," he said. "So, that's what we're up against."

Patch reporter Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.