Drivers in Colorado city face serious consequences if they drive in the same direction three times at night

Westminster, Colorado has a unique law targeting repeat nighttime drivers, specifically aimed at preventing car cruising.

In this Denver suburb, if you drive past the same spot three times between 9pm and 4am, the cops might flag you down – and no, it’s not because they think you’re lost.

This long-standing rule, first introduced in 2002, came about after locals grew tired of being woken up by loud engines and base-heavy subwoofers shaking the walls at 2am.

But it wasn’t just the noise that was causing an issue.

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Too many vehicles looping the same roads meant traffic gridlock, frustrated businesses, and delayed emergency services.

Born in 1940s Southern California, cruising and flexing your car was a social ritual.

But LA, Omaha, and Salt Lake City cracked down on the pastime in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“When I was a kid… cruising was a social activity, looking for girls. But by the time I got to the city council, there were gangs involved,” as LA City Council’s Alex Padilla put it.

The crackdown was also paralleled by the rise of tuner culture – think Fox Body Mustangs.

Louder cars and Fast & Furious-style meetups meant the scene was no longer quite so innocent.

So, fast forward to today – is cruising dead? 

Not quite, but it’s definitely different. 

Back in 1995, about 64 percent of teens had a driver’s license.

In 2021? Less than 40 percent. Between Uber, TikTok, and DoorDash, fewer teens feel the need to burn gas just to kill time.

Colorado’s still racing, though, and cops know it. Some young drivers are still out there, circling streets, looking for a challenge

One ex-street racer blames it on racetrack closures, with Bandimere Speedway shutting down and leaving nowhere safe to race.

So whether it’s nostalgia, rebellion, or boredom, cruising culture hasn’t totally disappeared.  

But in Westminster, drive in circles too many times and the cops might be waiting on lap three.

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