MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In Tuesday's Ransom Note, let's give Memphis what it needs to solve its drag racing problem.
Half the fun of going so dangerously fast is having your car make as much noise as it can.
That's why I'm with Memphian John Montgomery, who told reporter Brad Broders on Tuesday it's time for cities to start writing tickets when cars are too loud.
"Loud cars don't kill people. Racing kills people. Reckless driving kills people," Montgomery said. "But, almost without exception, every one of these cars involved radically violates the city's noise ordinance and that's the easiest way to capture this crowd."
He's absolutely right.
All cities in the Memphis metro area have noise ordinances, but they're never enforced, and drivers of these modified muscle cars just laugh as they loudly speed right by and cut us off.
City Councilman Ford Canale, who toughened Memphis' noise ordinance last year, said our police need more decibal readers to write tickets. Let's give them what they need.
Let's increase the fines. I have nothing against muscle cars, it's the modified ones. Everyone knows they're way too loud and lead to the kind of risky behavior that puts all of us in danger.