Street racing

Street racing is an unsanctioned and illegal form of motor racing that occurs on a public road. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated. Well coordinated races are planned in advance and often have people communicating via 2-way radio/citizens' band radio and using police scanners and GPS units to mark locations of local police hot spots. Opponents of street racing cite a lack of safety relative to sanctioned racing events, as well as legal repercussions arising from incidents, among street racing's drawbacks. The term street racing must not be confused with the legal and governed sport of Drag Racing.

Types

Tōge racing

The sport of drifting and tōge (also transcribed touge) racing primarily from Japan has led to its acceptance in other parts of the world. Tōge—Japanese for "mountain pass", because these races are held on mountain roads and passes—generally refers to racing, one car at a time or in a chase format, through mountain passes (the definition of which varies per locale and racing organization). Examples of such roads include Del Dios Highway in Escondido, California, Genting Sempah in Malaysia and Mount Haruna, on the island of Honshū, in Japan. However, street racing competition can lead to more people racing on a given road than would ordinarily be permitted (hence leading to the reputation of danger inherent). Touge races are typically run by drifting at the curves or turns. In the chase format, if the leading driver manages to pull away from the trailing one by the finish line, he is determined the winner. If the trailing racer manages to stay on his opponent's tail, he wins the race instead. In the second race, the trailing driver takes the front place and the winner is determined using the same method. This is referred as a "cat and mouse race."

Street

A street is a public thoroughfare (usually paved) in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.