'Somebody’s going to get hurt’: Neighbors fed up with street racing in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — There have been complaints recently about street racing in areas of Charlotte, such as uptown and Steele Creek, and police are addressing the citywide problem.

Doug Herbert, a former drag racer, said he has seen drivers attempt to race on the streets in uptown.

“I can go on my balcony and watch them racing by, so it’s a problem,” Herbert said.

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The speed limit in uptown is between 25 and 35 mph.

“These cars weigh 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 pounds,” Herbert said. “When they hit something or crash into another vehicle, somebody’s going to get hurt.”

[Street race in excess of 80 mph leads to deadly crash in east Charlotte]

Residents in uptown contacted Channel 9 over the weekend to complain about the unlawful racing.

“Imagine ‘Fast and the Furious,’” Herbert said. “Those sounds reverberating off all the buildings.”

People in the Steele Creek area said the cars speed by too quickly to catch on video.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recently said in a meeting that they created a new action plan to deal with street racing. In an operation near Interstate 485, officers made 631 traffic stops, handed out more than 1,000 charges and wrote 148 tickets for reckless driving.