NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The provincial government is announcing a new crackdown on dangerous driving which could see those caught street racing lose their driving privileges for up to three years and not just a few days.

The new rules, which will take effect on December 1st, replace the existing 15-day penalty for street racing or stunt driving with much longer penalties, which would be determined by Road Safety BC on a case-by-case basis.

Most driving bans will be between three and 36 months under the new regulations and they’ll also apply to a broader range of offenses like excessive speeding, driving without due care and attention and other high-risk driving behaviours that present an immediate risk to the safety of the public.

Markita Kaulius with Families for Justice lost her daughter several years ago after a crash in Surrey. She’s happy with the government’s move.

“When people are driving erratically, speeding not paying attention to the road, that puts everyone at risk and we have seen far too many people lose their lives because of erratic and dangerous driving,” she says.

She’s pleased with the tougher penalties but admits they’re not always enforced. “That’s where a lot of our problems are lacking, is people have done this many times and continue to do so if our penalties are not enforced. If there’s no accountability or enforcement and they’ve been able to get away with it numerous times, they’ll continue to do so.”

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Delta Police Chief Constable Neil Dubord tells NEWS 1130 says he, like many other police chiefs, are in favour of the incoming changes. “[We’re] supportive of this kind of penalty and review of people’s driving records based on their past driving history and whether or not they are frequent flyers in programs where they have risky driver behaviour.”

He’s hopeful the new law will be key to helping people make the best decision when behind the wheel. “When people actually lose their cars, there is an impact. And when you lose your car, say if it was up to three months or longer, at that point in time, I think it does have an impact and it will send a strong message. And it’s a small number of people who are actually displaying these kind of risky driving behaviours. Ninety per cent of the drivers are really good, but it’s always that 10 per cent are always causing us some grief.”

Dubord says street racing has an incredible effect on BC roads. “The types of behaviour that stunting have, dangerous driving have, street racing — all actually cause us to be concerned in relation to the amount of collisions they cause and to the level of anxiety they bring to other drivers on the road. We’ve all been on the highway before where we’re going 100 km/h and someone comes by you at 150 km/h, 160 km/h or 170 km/h and the level of startle that brings to you when someone comes by that fast — there’s an impact to everyone on the road.”

Victoria says police will still be allowed to immediately impound cars for up a minimum of seven days if drivers are caught either street racing or stunt driving.