Asian girl racers terrorise LA streets



THEY believe they can hit a wall with their cars and walk away, much like the video games they play.

That's what one Los Angeles police officer says of Asian girls who take part in illegal high-speed races on the city's busy roads, reported the The Times, London.

Street racing, usually a domain of macho men, is fast becoming a trend with young Asian girls like 16-year-old Jackie Q.

The daughter of a South Korean oncologist, Jackie Q is a straight A student studying medicine at Stanford University, California.

According to Chris Ortell, police sergeant of east LA said: 'The Asian girls are a new thing. They are not copying Hollywood movies. They were raised playing their brothers' video games, a dozen titles which feature street races, and believe that they can hit a wall and walk away. And they are killing themselves and others.'

These teen drivers jeopardise the safety of other vehicles when they indulge in illegal street races known as 'cutting up' contests, where they weave fast and furiously around other vehicles moving at prescribed speed limits.

Jackie Q says that she can win ?2,000 ($5600) on a Friday night bet in a 'cutting-up' race.

Sergeant Ortell is currently dealing with a 17-year-old Asian girl who raced her Ford Focus through a crowded street at 128kph before striking another car and killing its teenage occupant. That racer escaped with scratches and, as a minor, will probably be put on probation for three years.

Street racers are causing more than 100 deaths a year in Los Angeles county, twice as many as 10 years ago. For the first time, many such deaths are being caused by teenage girls.

Like many young Asian women in Los Angeles, Jackie Q and her friends have been inspired by Ms Nadine Toyoda, a Scottish-Japanese driver who was a champion street racer until she got pregnant at 17 and then 'went legit' in public races.

Ms Toyoda helped to transform Californian street racing with fresh tricks imported from Japan such as 'drifting', where cars 'drift' or spin on their rear wheels as they turn up the ramps of multi-storey car parks.

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