Residents of Santo Domingo's Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill avenues are frequently woken up by the shrill noise of speeding cars after midnight and in the early morning. This is the drag racing that takes place between daredevil youths along these main city thoroughfares in the small hours. The problem is that unknowing residents, making their way home or anywhere at those late hours, may find themselves to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get crashed into by a non-stopping speed racer.
El Caribe reports that traffic expert Luis Alba says that last year public hospitals Morgan, Moscoso Puello and Dario Contreras received 25 people who suffered injuries as a result of these late night races. So far this year, there have been seven injuries. El Caribe reports that the racing began in the early 90s and since then police reports show that 78 pedestrians and 26 drivers have died, including 12 competitors. 506 offenders have been sent to Justice, 172 of them more than once. There has not been a single sentence, though.
Jose Ramon Fadul, chief of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) told the newspaper that it is difficult to arrest the youths because they alert each other about the presence of an AMET officer.
Renso Matos, road safety spokesman, said that the competitors install nitrogen in their vehicles, to speed up the cars.
While for years most of the races took place on the Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill north-south avenues, competitors now prefer the Kennedy Avenue and Duarte Highway. Psychologist Marialba Hernandez said that most of the participants are under 25 years old. "Most come from wealthy homes but with their attitude they show their poverty and emptiness that creates the urge to fill the void with this," she says.
One competitor, interviewed by the newspaper confirmed that the stakes are high. "I have won and lost many things in the races," he says, mentioning that the prizes can range from a car to cash, or even a girlfriend.
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