Birmingham City Council to Anyone Showing Up to Watch Exhibition Driving: Don’t

The Birmingham Times The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday put teeth into the City Code to deter exhibition driving for not only individuals who participate, but even those who show up to watch. According to amendments to the code, spectators in exhibition driving or street racing is punishable by up to a $500 fine and/or 180 days in jail. “One thing that we’ve seen is there are a lot of people that participate in this who aren’t the necessarily the ones driving,” said Councilor LaTonya Tate, chair of the Public Safety Committee. “What we wanted to do is put something into law that dissuades people from even showing up for these dangerous events, even if they’re just planning on being passive participants – like people live streaming and taking videos.” “With these changes, we are giving our law enforcement officers a much-needed tool in order to curb this behavior on our public streets,” Councilor Hunter Williams said. “Enforcement of these changes will be up to the discretion of our officers. The Mayor’s Operation Knight Rider has been a huge success so far. This will allow for additional enforcement beyond just drivers and will hopefully prevent large crowds from gathering at...