Rise in street racing near Old Hickory Boulevard worries residents

Nashville, Tenn. (WTVF) – Ginny Staggs moves to Brentwood in search of a peaceful community. Instead, she now lives with the sound of roaring engines and burning rubber. He said that the trend of street racing has increased in the area.

“Most of the information I’m seeing in this area is on OHB from Nippers Corner to I-65,” Staggs said.

“I think the problem has been going on for a long time, and nothing has been resolved,” Staggs said.

Old Hickory Boulevard is where neighbors say many of the problems happen. Staggs said that he himself almost had a head-to-head collision.

“This car comes flying down the hill at about 90 mph, coming straight for me,” he said. The car passed her in the wrong lane of traffic before taking off on I-65.

Metro Council member Courtney Johnson said her biggest concern is safety.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before someone gets killed,” Johnson said.

He also said that the help of business owners has to be taken to bust the meetings.

“If the owner of that private property does not have a trespassing waiver on file with the police department, then the police department has no legal right to go onto that property to make sure there is no trespassing,” Johnson said.

That’s why she’s working with business owners, legislators and other community members to create tougher penalties and improve traffic calming measures in the area.

Johnson – who has also pushed for license plate readers to be installed on the streets – says the cameras can also be an effective tool in catching street racers.

“We have to do more enforcement,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take all the police departments communicating with each other about what they do. With THP coming in and helping, especially on those state routes — and that’s happening a lot.”

But the solution is complex, and Johnson admits it will take time.

“It’s absolutely a safety issue. I know the noise is an annoyance,” she said. “My number one concern is public safety and making sure people are not getting injured or killed.”

In the meantime, the Stags will wait for that resolution and hope no one gets hurt before then.

“It might be [that they’re doing it] Because they can get away with it, and if they can’t get away with it they’ll go somewhere else,” she said.