Cara Spencer pushes bill targeting reckless driving
A new proposed bill is taking aim at dangerous driving and illegal street takeovers in the City of St. Louis, an issue that has sparked growing concerns over public safety.
ST. LOUIS – A new proposed bill is taking aim at dangerous driving and illegal street takeovers in the City of St. Louis, an issue that has sparked growing concerns over public safety.
Board Bill 80, brought forward by mayoral candidate and Alderwoman Cara Spencer, focuses on curbing reckless behavior on St. Louis roads by empowering law enforcement to impound vehicles used in these crimes. The bill specifically targets street takeovers, where drivers block roads to perform dangerous stunts like burnouts and donuts.
“It’s terrifying to be a pedestrian, to be a cyclist, to even be a fellow driver,” Spencer said Tuesday night at a campaign party.
Spencer likens the bill to efforts taken last summer to get guns off city streets, framing the measure as a necessary step to treat vehicles used recklessly as weapons threatening public safety. She emphasizes the goal is not punishment but prevention.
“The idea here really, the concept is not to punish people,” Spencer said. “It’s to curb the behavior. It’s to end the reckless driving.”
The statistics underscore the urgency of the issue. Last year, 223 pedestrians were struck by vehicles in St. Louis, with fatality rates that are three times the national average. Spencer describes the situation as a “reckless driving crisis.”
“To me, when you’re operating a vehicle as if it’s a weapon, we need to put an end to it,” she said.
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