California Vehicle Code § 23109(a) VC makes it a crime to participate willfully in a speed contest. A “speed contest” is where two or more motor vehicles race on a public street, highway, or freeway. It can also refer to racing against a timing device such as a clock or a stopwatch.
This chart shows the potential sentencing:
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Vehicle Code 23109 violation |
California penalties |
| First conviction in five years | Misdemeanor:
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| Second conviction within five years | Misdemeanor:
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| Victim gets injured |
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| Victim gets seriously injured | Misdemeanor:
or
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To help you better understand the law, our California criminal defense attorneys will address the following speed contest topics:
If, after reading this article, you would like more information, we invite you to contact us at Shouse Law Group.
1. “Speed Contest” Defined
The legal definition of a “speed contest” under Vehicle Code 23109(a) consists of the following “elements” of the jury instructions:
- You drove a motor vehicle (such as a car or motorcycle but not a bike);
- The driving occurred on a highway (which comprises freeways and public streets but not private property); and
- While doing so, you willfully engaged in a speed contest.
To do something “willfully” means to do it willingly or on purpose. You do not need to intend to break the law, hurt someone else, or gain an advantage.
Meanwhile, a speed contest is any race by a motor vehicle against either 1) another motor vehicle or 2) a clock or other timing device. It does NOT include an event where participants measure the amount of time it takes for a vehicle to cover a given route, IF:
- The route is more than twenty (20) miles, and
- The vehicle does not exceed the speed limit during the event.1
Vehicle Code 23109 a VC makes it a crime to willfully participate in a speed contest.
2. Penalties
Speed Contest Basic Penalties
In most cases, a speed contest ticket under Vehicle Code 23109(a) VC will result in a misdemeanor charge with the sentence:
- Misdemeanor (summary) probation;
- 24 hours to 90 days in jail;
- $355 to $1,000;
- 40 hours of community service; and/or
- A driver’s license suspension or restriction of 90 days to 6 months.
Note that juvenile defendants charged under VC 23109(a) will be prosecuted in California’s juvenile court system.
When You Have a Prior Speed Contest Conviction
If you have a prior conviction for a speed contest that occurred within 5 years of this alleged speed contest, then your misdemeanor penalties increase to:
- 4 days to 6 months in jail or misdemeanor probation (which still requires 48 hours in jail);
- $500 to $1,000; and
- A mandatory suspension or restriction of your driver’s license for 6 months.
When Someone Gets Injured
If the speed contest proximately caused any bodily injury to another person, then the penalties increase to:
- 30 days and 6 months in jail; and/or
- $500 to $1,000.2
When Someone Gets Seriously Injured
Having a speed contest causing a serious injury is a “wobbler,” which means it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony at the prosecutor’s discretion. As a misdemeanor, a speed contest causing serious bodily injury carries:
- 30 days to 1 year in jail; and/or
- $500 and $1,000.
Charged as a felony, a speed contest causing serious bodily injury carries:
- 16 months, 2 years or 3 years in jail; and
- Up to $10,000.
For purposes of Vehicle Code 23109 VC, serious bodily injury means a serious impairment of physical condition, including (but not limited to):
- Loss of consciousness;
- Concussion;
- Bone fracture;
- Protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ;
- A wound requiring extensive suturing; and
- Serious disfigurement.3
Vehicle Impoundment
After a speed contest arrest, the arresting officer has the right to seize the vehicle used to commit the alleged offense—and impound it for up to 30 days.
If this occurs, then the vehicle will be released before the end of the impoundment period only if one of the following is true:
- The vehicle was stolen (in which case you may also face charges for California grand theft auto);
- You were not authorized to operate the vehicle by its owner;
- The owner of the car was not a driver or passenger in the car when the alleged speed contest occurred, or was unaware that you were using the car to engage in these activities;
- The car was a rental car; and/or
- The prosecutor chooses not to file Vehicle Code 23109(a) charges, or those charges are dismissed.4
Example: Lila sneaks out of the house one night in her brother Bruce’s car and uses it to participate in a street race. If she gets arrested and the car gets impounded, Bruce should be able to get it back if he can convince an official at an impoundment hearing that he had not given Lila permission to take his car that night.
Not all races meet the legal definition of speed contests.
3. Defenses
Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with traffic-related crimes. In our experience, the following two defenses are very effective in getting Vehicle Code 23109(a) VC/speed contest charges dismissed.
Your Behavior Was Not “Willful”
You cannot be convicted of a speed contest unless the prosecutor can prove that you acted “willfully.”5
Maybe you have a physical or medical condition that led you to drive at a high speed without realizing you were doing so. (This happens especially frequently with elderly drivers.)
Or maybe you feared for your safety for whatever reason and engaged in fast driving that looked like a speed contest because of that. Either way, we can help you gather evidence and present your side of the story in order to make it clear that you are not guilty of VC 23109(a).
There is Insufficient Evidence that Your Behavior Met the Definition of a Speed Contest
The line between speed contests and garden-variety speeding can be blurry.
Sometimes California Highway Patrol or police officers will try to turn a speeding case into a Vehicle Code 23109(a) VC case in order to increase their arrest numbers, or out of personal malice toward a particular arrestee. In the worst cases, police misconduct and/or racial profiling might be occurring.
If you are wrongly accused of engaging in a speed contest, we can argue to the prosecutor or a jury that there is not enough evidence that you are guilty.
4. Related Offenses
- Exhibition of speed (VC 23109(c)) – accelerating or driving a vehicle at a dangerous speed, in order to show off or make an impression on other people. It can be charged on its own, as either a misdemeanor or an infraction. It is also a very common California DUI plea bargain.
- Dry reckless – driving with willful and wanton disregard for the safety of other people or their property. It is distinguished from “wet reckless” in that the latter is always a plea bargain from California DUI charges and is never charged separately. Reckless driving is a misdemeanor carrying at least 5 and no more than 90 days in jail, and/or $145 to $1,000.
- Misdemeanor evading an officer (VC 2800.1) – intentionally fleeing from a clearly marked law enforcement vehicle in your car. It carries up to 1 year in jail. For that reason, it is sometimes smart to try to bargain an evading an officer charge down to a VC 23109(a) speed contest.
- Felony reckless evading (VC 2800.2) – driving recklessly while fleeing from a clearly marked law enforcement vehicle in your car.
Street racing can be a felony if someone gets seriously injured.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Drag Racing, Assumption of Risk, and Homicide – Criminal Law Bulletin.
- Death Caused by Drag Racing–Criminal Liability of the Participants – Syracuse Law Review.
- Case Study on the Experience of Street Racing – Capella University.
- The road safety implications of illegal street racing and associated risky driving behaviours: An analysis of offences and offenders – Accident Analysis & Prevention.
- Corporate Social Responsibility And A Drag Racing Attempt In Combatting Unlawful Street Racing – Journal of Economics, Business and Management.
Legal References:
- Vehicle Code 23109 VC – Speed contests.
(a) A person shall not engage in a motor vehicle speed contest on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility. As used in this section, a motor vehicle speed contest includes a motor vehicle race against another vehicle, a clock, or other timing device. For purposes of this section, an event in which the time to cover a prescribed route of more than 20 miles is measured, but in which the vehicle does not exceed the speed limits, is not a speed contest.
(b) A person shall not aid or abet in any motor vehicle speed contest on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility.
(c) A person shall not engage in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility, and a person shall not aid or abet in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on any highway or in an offstreet parking facility.
(d) A person shall not, for the purpose of facilitating or aiding or as an incident to any motor vehicle speed contest or exhibition upon a highway or in an offstreet parking facility, in any manner obstruct or place a barricade or obstruction or assist or participate in placing a barricade or obstruction upon a highway or in an offstreet parking facility.
(e) (1) A person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than 24 hours nor more than 90 days or by a fine of not less than three hundred fifty-five dollars ($355) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. That person shall also be required to perform 40 hours of community service. The court may order the privilege to operate a motor vehicle suspended for 90 days to six months, as provided in paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 13352. The person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle may be restricted for 90 days to six months to necessary travel to and from that person’s place of employment and, if driving a motor vehicle is necessary to perform the duties of the person’s employment, restricted to driving in that person’s scope of employment. This subdivision does not interfere with the court’s power to grant probation in a suitable case.
(2) If a person is convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) and that violation proximately causes bodily injury to a person other than the driver, the person convicted shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than 30 days nor more than six months or by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(f) (1) If a person is convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) for an offense that occurred within five years of the date of a prior offense that resulted in a conviction of a violation of subdivision (a), that person shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than four days nor more than six months, and by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(2) If the perpetration of the most recent offense within the five-year period described in paragraph (1) proximately causes bodily injury to a person other than the driver, a person convicted of that second violation shall be imprisoned in a county jail for not less than 30 days nor more than six months and by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(3) If the perpetration of the most recent offense within the five-year period described in paragraph (1) proximately causes serious bodily injury, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (f) of Section 243 of the Penal Code, to a person other than the driver, a person convicted of that second violation shall be imprisoned in the state prison, or in a county jail for not less than 30 days nor more than one year, and by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(4) The court shall order the privilege to operate a motor vehicle of a person convicted under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) suspended for a period of six months, as provided in paragraph (9) of subdivision (a) of Section 13352. In lieu of the suspension, the person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle may be restricted for six months to necessary travel to and from that person’s place of employment and, if driving a motor vehicle is necessary to perform the duties of the person’s employment, restricted to driving in that person’s scope of employment.
(5) This subdivision does not interfere with the court’s power to grant probation in a suitable case.
(g) If the court grants probation to a person subject to punishment under subdivision (f), in addition to subdivision (f) and any other terms and conditions imposed by the court, which may include a fine, the court shall impose as a condition of probation that the person be confined in a county jail for not less than 48 hours nor more than six months. The court shall order the person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle to be suspended for a period of six months, as provided in paragraph (9) of subdivision (a) of Section 13352 or restricted pursuant to subdivision (f).
(h) If a person is convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) and the vehicle used in the violation is registered to that person, the vehicle may be impounded at the registered owner’s expense for not less than one day nor more than 30 days.
(i) (1) A person who violates subdivision (b), (c), or (d) shall upon conviction of that violation be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 90 days, by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(2) (A) Commencing July 1, 2025, the court may order the privilege to operate a motor vehicle suspended for 90 days to six months for a person who violates subdivision (c), as provided in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 13352, only if the violation occurred as part of a sideshow. For purposes of this section, “sideshow” is defined as an event in which two or more persons block or impede traffic on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility, for the purpose of performing motor vehicle stunts, motor vehicle speed contests, motor vehicle exhibitions of speed, or reckless driving, for spectators.
(B) The person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle may be restricted for 90 days to six months to necessary travel to and from that person’s place of employment and, if driving a motor vehicle is necessary to perform the duties of the person’s employment, restricted to driving in that person’s scope of employment.
(C) If the court is considering suspending or restricting the privilege to operate a motor vehicle pursuant to this paragraph, the court shall also consider whether a medical, personal, or family hardship exists that requires a person to have a driver’s license for such limited purpose as the court deems necessary to address the hardship. This subdivision does not interfere with the court’s power to grant probation in a suitable case.
(j) If a person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle is restricted by a court pursuant to this section, the court shall clearly mark the restriction and the dates of the restriction on that person’s driver’s license and promptly notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of the terms of the restriction in a manner prescribed by the department. The Department of Motor Vehicles shall place that restriction in the person’s records in the Department of Motor Vehicles and enter the restriction on a license subsequently issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to that person during the period of the restriction.
(k) The court may order that a person convicted under this section, who is to be punished by imprisonment in a county jail, be imprisoned on days other than days of regular employment of the person, as determined by the court.
(l) For purposes of this section, “offstreet parking facility” has the same meaning as in subdivision (c) of Section 12500.
(m) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Louis Friend Memorial Act.
See also Vehicle Code 23109.1 VC. Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions CALCRIM 2201 – Speed Contest (Veh. Code, § 23109(c), (e)(2), (f)(1)-(3)).
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must prove that:
1. The defendant drove a motor vehicle on a highway;
[AND]
2. While so driving, the defendant willfully engaged in a speed contest(./;)
[AND]
3. The speed contest was a substantial factor in causing someone other than the defendant to suffer [serious] bodily injury.See also Navarrete v. Meyer (Cal. App. 4th Dist., 2015), 237 Cal. App. 4th 1276. People v. Grier (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 1964) 226 Cal. App. 2d 360. A “motor vehicle” includes a passenger vehicle (such as a car or pickup truck), motorcycle, bus or school bus, commercial vehicle, and a truck tractor. - Vehicle Code 23109 VC. A “restriction” means you may drive only for your job. If you violate those restrictions—or drive at all while your license is suspended—then you could face separate charges for Vehicle Code 14601 VC driving on a suspended license.
- Vehicle Code 23109.1 VC. See also Penal Code 1170(h). Penal Code 243(f)(4).
- Vehicle Code 23109.2 VC.
- CALCRIM 2201. See also Foley v. Superior Court (Cal. App. 4th Dist., 2004), 117 Cal. App. 4th 206.