Mothers Against Racing on the Streets organizer concerned about rash of deadly crashes
Cracking down on street racing
A Central Florida mother is working to curb street racing. Laurie Broadus organized Mothers Against Racing on the Streets, or MARS, in 2010. Broadus lost her son in 2006 during a street racing incident. Florida State Sen. Linda Stewart has pushed for harsher fines in the past. She also believes law enforcement needs better training on how to prevent the races.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Osceola Sheriff Marcos Lopez plans to have a vigil in Kissimmee, off U.S. 192, the site of a crash that claimed the lives of an 11-year-old girl and 23-year-old woman. It is believed that they were the victims of street racing
Sheriff Lopez wants to honor all victims of street racing as Central Florida has recently experienced a rash of deadly crashes possibly related to the illegal activity.
Orange County deputies have been busy ticketing drivers for racing illegally. State Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, says strike teams will be monitoring the area looking to stop street racing.
We also found a mom who has another way to stop the illegal activity.
RELATED: Osceola County Sheriff's Office plans vigil for victims of illegal racing
"Maybe we need more tracks because one’s not enough. We’re losing kids quicker than we want to."
Laurie Broadus talks about ways to curb street racing. She organized Mothers Against Racing on the Streets, or MARS, in 2010 and thinks it made a difference back then.
"It started going way down. People, I guess, started realizing they didn’t need to be on the streets."
But hearing about five alleged street racing deaths in the last two weeks is disturbing.
"I feel bad for the parents, the siblings, the cousins of the family because they’re the ones that lose."
She knows all too well after her 18-year-old son, Shawn, was killed back in 2006 while street racing.
"He was hit from behind. That’s what caused him to slide through the median and flip eight times."
"From January to March we had 1,500 tickets written and 250 people put in jail," State Sen. Stewart said.
Stewart helped create fines ranging from $500 to $5,000 and jail time.She believes law enforcement needs better training in catching the street racers.
"They go on the internet and say, 'Oh we’re gonna have a street race over at such and such location' and the police know where that’s gonna be. "
Broadus is thinking of getting MARS back together again and hitting the road.
"Maybe going back to the schools and talking to the kids. Because that really worked."
She read a poem she wrote about her son's street racing death.
"God called me home, I was hurt real bad."
She said she misses her son every day, and reminds others, not to street race.
"I often think how different it would be if I never raced that day. Hindsight is 20/20 at least that’s what they say."