Gwinnett deputies offer safe zone for street racing

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department has a new approach to teaching children about the dangers of street racing.

The "Beat the Heat" program brings deputies out in the community to get kids off the streets and into organized racing, officials said. The deputies bring their suped-up police car and motorcycle to local tracks and will race them.

They said young drivers need to know there is an outlet that doesn't involve putting other drives at risk.

"They see 316, they're on (Interstate) 85. They're on Georgia 20 in Gwinnett County. They sit next to somebody at the traffic light and say, 'Hey, I'm going to race this guy.' They don't have to do that in that environment," said Gwinnett County Sheriff Sgt. Mark Welch. "A lot of these kids don't realize the laws and repercussions of it. And, you start laying it out there the laws and repeurcussions of it."

More information about the program will be available at the second annual car show scheduled at the Gwinnett Arena on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free; it's $20 to enter.

WSBTV