TORONTO - The Liberals are set to introduce legislation within weeks that will toughen up the penalties for anyone caught street racing, the Canadian Press has learned.

Transport Minister Donna Cansfield said street racing is becoming a serious and deadly problem for many Ontario communities.

The province wants to deter drivers from engaging in the often-fatal practice by making it possible to immediately seize a driver's vehicle and dramatically increase fines.

"We can make it abundantly clear -- you race, you pay and the penalty will be big time," Cansfield said in an interview Tuesday.

"I'm hoping the message will be out there loud and clear ... and they'll think twice before they gun up their cars and decide to race each other on a city street."

The news comes the same day the mother of a 21-year-old man set out on an 18-day protest walk to Ottawa to demand tougher penalties.

Adrienne Seggie of Brantford said her 470 km walk, which will make a stop at the Ontario legislature Thursday, is designed to pressure politicians to apply tougher penalties to street racers.

Her son Matthew Power was crossing a Hamilton intersection last November when a speeding car ran him down and severed his body in half.

Such tragedies are unacceptable and totally avoidable, Cansfield said.

"It was preventable," she said.

"People call these things accidents. They're not accidents."

In addition to stiffer penalties for those caught racing, Cansfield said the province will work with Ontario police to provide young people with safe places to race.

"If young people need a venue to do street racing, we can provide a venue that's safe, controlled and with the appropriate oversight," she said, adding the Liberals hope to pass the legislation in the next few months.

"We've been working on this for some time."

The initiatives come as good news to some police officers who have seen the gory aftermath of street racing.

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Cam Woolley said street racing, or extreme driving, is like "firing a gun into a crowd."

But it's not the fear of death that causes many to slow down -- it's fear of a stiff fine or the loss of their precious car.

"For some young guys, the car is everything," Woolley said.

"It's who they are. That's something we really have to look at."

Police are often fighting a losing battle against movies that glorify street racing like the "Fast and the Furious," Woolley said.

Woolley said the province could help make street racing as socially unacceptable as drunk driving by making sure the consequences are felt immediately -- not up to a year down the road when the case finally goes to court.

"For extreme driving, there should be extreme consequences," he said.

"Society no longer accepts preventable death."