Saratoga News

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Sheriff's deputies ticketing drivers for street racing on Big Basin Way

By Shannon Burkey

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department recently set up a special operation with the California Highway Patrol in an attempt to crack down on street racing that has become popular along Highway 9, Big Basin Way and Congress Springs Road in Saratoga.

On July 23, from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., eight deputies and three CHP officers secreted themselves and watched as vehicles sped up and down the mountain roads.

According to Capt. John Hirokawa, the racers have been gathering at the Pay and Save parking lot and sending "spotters" to check for law enforcement and any other cars that may be on the road. Equipped with walkie-talkies, they would then radio each other when the roads were clear.

Once the spotter gave the all-clear, the vehicles were going up one by one at rates up to 75 miles per hour and timing themselves to the summit. Drivers were averaging between 12 and 15 minutes to the summit, according to Hirokawa.

The drivers were also "drifting" their cars through the turns on the road. Drifting is a form of sliding the vehicle through a turn in a controlled fashion while traveling at high speeds and was made popular through the movie The Fast and The Furious Tokyo Drift, Hirokawa said.

Sgt. Don Ray set up the operation and said 13 people were stopped and eight were cited.

"We hope to actively enforce this as best we can," Ray said. "But we also really rely on the residents to keep us informed of what is going on."

Residents played a big part in getting the operation under way, Hirokawa said. They began complaining to the sheriff's office several months ago that cars were speeding and racing up and down the roads almost every night. Upon investigating, officers noticed a large number of cars travelling through the streets of Saratoga during the late hours of the night. Officers learned of a Youtube video that depicted cars involved in street racing in Saratoga.

The video, posted by a 21-year-old Youtube user on Feb. 20, shows two cars on Big Basin Way in the Village as they revved up their engines and took off at high speeds up into the mountain. The video then depicts a scene from one of the vehicles looking out the windshield as it traveled up to Congress Spring Road.

Although the names and identities of the drivers are not available from the video, the license plate of one of the cars is visible. But, Hirokawa said that is not enough reason to go out and find the car and driver.

"Unless there is a major crime going on, we are not going looking for a person, even if their license plate is on the video."

Of the people who were cited during the night of the operation, none were from the Saratoga area. The majority of the drivers stopped were from Foster City with a few from San Jose and Sunnyvale.

Hirokawa said he hopes this latest operation will begin to discourage drivers from racing their cars in the area. However, the sheriff's office is prepared to set up additional operations if it continues.