Would an arrangement between two (or more) parties to get from point A to point B in the fastest way possible without breaking any laws and the fastest party would receive a price pool made up of equal deposits by all parties -taxes be considered illegal street racing?

  • Reminds of me Dominos pizza being sued because their policy encouraged drivers to break the law. – Andy Feb 4 '17 at 19:55

The usual law which pertains to (outlaws) racing is stated in terms of comparing speeds, and the speeds do not have to be above the legal limit. Washington law confuses people because it has the exception that


Some locations (esp. Kent WA) have ordinances prohibiting presence in a street-racing area (there is a list), with fines for observers up to $1000. Simultaneously testing alternative routes (e.g. "I'll take 405, you take the back roads") is perfectly legal. The question of gambling is not so clear (it involves local law which is more variable). Skill is involved in the aforementioned activity. A sports pool may be legal, but there are many conditions on such a pool which make it unlikely that a "race" would qualify (for betting without a license). Since Washington law is fairly specific, I would assume that they interpret the lack of permission to have an pool on the outcome of a race as an activity requiring a license, though I can't find an explicit ban.


Street racing is illegal in most of the world, although the way laws deal with it may differ.

A couple of examples:

In Brazil a law was passed in 2014 to deal with "rachas" (street races) that modified both the road code. The road code (art. 173) forbids races ("disputar corrida") without more details, qualifies it as a very severe offence and punishes it with a fine, cancellation of drivers license and vehicle apprehension. If the race involves risk (art. 308), it becomes a crime punished with 6 months to 3 years imprisonment. If it has consequences the sentence can be longer.

In summary, in Brasil street racing is illegal even not breaking any other law and not causing risky situations. If risk is involved, it's a crime in addition of being illegal.

In Spain the road code (art. 22.5) forbids speed competition in public ways or public used ways. That is, it's a general prohibition similar to that of Brazil that works even if no other law is broken. It is also punished with fines.

Anyway, in both Spain and Brazil the law allows that for competitions in streets or roads to be authorized.

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