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Back in September, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky got in front of news cameras and claimed that since other places crush street takeover and street racing cars, his state should do the same. Since then, there reportedly is a group of lawmakers who are working on such a bill, but not everyone’s a fan.
Nissan Cube gets cubed by a semi-truck.
We hate the street takeover trend and think street racing is just as selfish and reckless. But we also despise governments crushing seized vehicles for some rather solid reasons. Chief among them is that it’s unnecessary.
Once a car is seized, it can be resold. The vehicle itself isn’t evil, even if it’s used for illegal activities, just like other objects. Crushing it is a tremendous waste, restricting the supply of vehicles, which over time can have an inflationary effect on prices, like what Cash For Clunkers did.
What’s more, it’s irresponsible since the revenue which would come from selling the seized cars then comes from taxpayers. But we see government officials blow through money like crazy, so expecting them to naturally be fiscally responsible might be asking too much.
Finally, we hate these “tough guy” displays by government officials where they destroy vehicles or whatever to send a message that they’re not to be messed with. It’s honestly screwed up and pathetic at the same time. We think seizing cars sends a loud and clear message, but destroying perfectly good vehicles just proves you’re a wasteful fool.
A report from WHAS11 doesn’t effectively communicate these objections about the law. Instead, they spoke with some “responsible” street racers who don’t like the idea. It’s insinuated but never overtly stated that these people represent all car enthusiasts. They do not.
There are other effective ways of combatting street takeovers and street racing that don’t involve the theatrics of crushing cars. We suspect this plan is to appeal to certain voters who want to see some carnage because they’re angry and not thinking clearly.
Image via WHAS11/YouTube
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