Watch Tempe street racer narrowly miss pedestrians as police cracks down on dangerous menace

Operation Silent Night resulted in 277 arrests and 303 street racing charges.

PUBLISHED JUN 19, 2024

A video from Tempe Police Department shows a driver doing ‘burnouts’ in a crowded parking lot then crashing the car mere feet from pedestrians. (Screenshot from video posted by Tempe PD)

Tempe, Arizona (Release): The Tempe Police Department, in cooperation with several other Valley law enforcement agencies, will continue its crackdown on illegal street racing with Operation Street Sweep.

On any given night, dozens to hundreds of street racers take to Valley streets at high speeds. Sometimes they take over intersections. Tempe Police has prioritized making streets safer with focused efforts to end street racing. From Friday, June 14, Operation Street Sweep has brought enhanced enforcement on this issue to Tempe.

“Street racing isn’t acceptable in our community. It’s not only deadly for those racing, but for the other people on our roads, whether they are driving, biking or walking,” said Deputy City Manager Greg Ruiz, who oversees Community Health and Public Safety.

In 2023, there were approximately 50 vehicle collisions in Tempe, resulting in 24 fatalities. It is believed that excessive speed was a factor in 18 of those collisions.

The number of high-speed drivers is one of Tempe residents’ top concerns, according to a recent ZenCity Blockwise report, ranking just below homelessness issues and drugs.

Operation Silent Night, which took place from March 1 to May 25, resulted in 277 arrests and 303 street racing charges. By comparison, in 2023, a total of 259 citations were issued for racing. During these operations speeds of more than 85 mph, reckless driving, and speeds of more than 20 mph over the speed limit were occurring.

“As the Tempe Police Chief, I am committed to addressing the issue of street racing and its associated crimes. We will take proactive measures, collaborate with local agencies, and employ innovative strategies to effectively combat this dangerous activity,” said Tempe Police Chief Kenneth McCoy.

Beyond continual enforcement efforts, Tempe is taking action in several ways to make roads safer for everyone. The Real Time Operation Center pools the hundreds of traffic, park and facilities cameras in Tempe so that police staff can easily review footage to determine what happened in traffic incidents, keep officers and drivers safer during incidents, resolve crimes and tend to infrastructure needs, like graffiti removal or replacing landscaping.

Tempe is one of 45 cities across the nation to participate in Vision Zero. (Map courtesy Vizion Zero Tempe)

This fall, speed and red light cameras will be installed at several Tempe intersections to induce people to slow down. According to the US Department of Transportation, they can reduce crashes by more than 50 per cent.

Tempe is one of 45 cities across the nation to participate in Vision Zero, an effort to reduce or eliminate the number of serious and injuries caused by collisions. Tempe has targeted 14 intersections around the city for intensive traffic enforcement. These intersections were chosen based on a statistical analysis of a higher propensity for collisions.