Street racing is dangerous, no ifs, ands, or buts. Not only is it illegal but it can also result in fatal consequences. Case in point: two German street racers have been sentenced to life in prison for their role in the death of an innocent driver.

According to the Associated Press, via Fox News, a German court has upheld the murder convictions of two men, whose privacy is protected by German law, who partook in a midnight drag race in downtown Berlin back in 2016. One of them slammed into an uninvolved Jeep driven by a 69-year-old retired doctor, widower, and father of two. He was killed instantly. Police investigators concluded the two drivers reached speeds up to 106 mph as they raced down Berlin's Kurfuerstendamm Boulevard. They also ran red lights and ignored all traffic laws.

The two were sentenced in 2017 to life in prison following their murder convictions. It was Germany's first convictions for a drag racing fatality. Examples needed to be set to end the practice for good. However, and not at all surprisingly, there was an appeal and the verdict was overturned last year. A federal court ruled the crime didn't meet the legal requirements for murder, and a retrial was ordered.

Last week, a Berlin State Court reinstated the earlier verdict, stating that the pairs' actions went beyond negligence. They knew what they were doing was extremely dangerous not only for themselves but for innocent drivers and pedestrians as well.

Both men, the court wrote, had "willful intent" of their actions, but one of them was "less guilty" because he wasn't the one who struck and killed the victim. This less guilty guy apparently refused at first to race and even stopped at two red lights before the accident happened. German law, however, requires the judge to give the same sentence to both. Each must serve a minimum of 15 years in prison before the possibility of parole.

The German Criminal Code has now been changed as a result of this case. Fatalities as a result of street racing will now be punishable by up to ten years in the slammer.