Tyler, TX — A hobby that's been around since the 1930s is still causing problems today in East Texas; street racing.

As a result police and locals are seeing more accidents and arrests.

Tyler police say two cars were racing Westbound on Grande on Sunday morning when they couldn't make the turn at 1500 boulevard.

Officer Don Martin told KETK, "The pick up ended up going off into private property and rolling, the driver ended up being ejected because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, the other vehicle ended up coming back over across correct lanes but ended up in private property as well."

Police say the driver of a Jetta, Luiz Barajas, was arrested because alcohol was involved and the other two people in that car were taken to East Texas Medical Center. The driver of a pick up, Daniel Dodd, was also hospitalized.

We asked the manager at Wicked Customs, in Tyler why people feel the need to put themselves and others in serious danger.

Gavin Green told KETK, "Adrenaline rush yah know the reason people even race to begin with they just want to see who can do what better than any one else can, they shouldn't be doing it in the first place, the sharp curves i guess its a real tight s curve through there you get all the g's from taking corners, especially if you fix up your car you want to see what it can do."

Not only are the safety risks a factor for this hobby, but when these accidents happen it will cost you,your time and money.

Martin told KETK that the rules have changed for street racing, he said, "racing is a serious deal it used to be just a class c misdemeanor which was a citation, and the legislature saw that people were getting hurt and they wanted to put some punch behind it so they make it a jail-able offense now."

Green told KETK that people can spend anywhere from a couple hundred to thousands of dollars fixing up their cars that they could wreck in just seconds.

He also said that a possible solution to this ongoing issue would be to have a drag racing strip company here in Tyler. He said that he has been to some cities that have them and there is hardly any illegal street racing on the roads since the people have a place to go and race in a controlled environment.