Street Racing in and of itself is both unsafe and just plain wrong. 99GT you are correct, people do excercise good judgement on a regular basis. However, once they decide to street race - their judgement falls right out the window. Deciding to street race in what you ("you" meaning not necessarily yourself, could be me, a friend, whoever) think is a safe condition is not excercising good judgement at all.

Cutting someone's head off in an abondoned road doesn't make it anymore right or anymore wrong than cutting someone's head off in a public road. In either case, the person is screwed.

supwithyou is also correct, the law enforcement needs to gear up and find someway to get rid of these "street racers" or so they call themselves. Save it for the track.

 

Street racing is not a problem. People dying because other people were not paying attention is a problem. Most accidents are caused by inattention or the driver falling asleep. We are talking just about every accident is caused by these two factors. Cars traveling at excessive speed cause accidents in movies and television but not in real life. Eliminating street racing is a noble cause, but it won't make our roads any safer.

If you want police to eliminate street racing, why not get the same people who fight our "drug war" to do it for you? They obviously have super success with the "confiscated sports car driven by a public relations officer" in curbing the nation's appetite for mind-altering substances. No-one uses drugs anymore, right? These are the same people who brought you Prohibition. That was a waste of tax-payers' money! Ban it, no don't ban it, after people died, fortunes were made, and politicians were elected.

You cannot legislate a popular pastime out of existence. All you can do is try to control when and where it is pursued. You would think that intelligent people would learn this by now?

 

For those of you that believe that there are safe conditions to street race, i urge you to spend a day at the track and road race a little. Enter any HPDE and i m sure you will realize something right away. Even under controlled conditions, its very easy for something to go wrong. Now throw in all the possibilities that arise everyday on the street and you quiclkly see what little control you have over other circumstances.
Its one thing to put your own life in danger, but to endanger others is a whole other story.

 

YES, 99GT you said it right. Street racing isn't the only problem, it is a problem, but certainly not the only. Also, it may make the roads safer, in an insignificant way, but it might. I guess the only way to make the roads completely safe, you would have to make every single car perform similar.....slow. Having cars that accelerate slowly, and have a low top speed, and even computer controlled/driven would probably be effective. As much as I would like to see that happen, I wouldn't count on it - atleast not anytime soon.

In regards to legislating a popular past time out of existence; since when did street racing and putting other lives at risk become a past time? If it has, then we the people really need to re-focus ourselves. I didn't mean to ban racing, I was aimed at the street scene. Heck, the entire streets for that matter. Street racers, those who speed, those who cut people off, those who drive drunk, those who drive recklessly; all of us are guilty of doing something along those lines at some point or another. Something needs to be done about that, whether it be somebody or someone or some organization. I'm sure you'll agree with me on that one.

 

I think people often say "street racing is dangerous no matter what" simply because it is an easy position to take. If you have ever driven across WI at 3:00 AM, you would realize something right away: there is no-one out here for miles. Deer are not running around freeways at that time of night, they are feeding in fields. There is some traffic, but there is at least a few miles between cars. I am in favor of safety, but not cowering in the corner because of what might happen. There is absolutely no chance of anyone but me and my opponent getting hurt by our race through WI in the middle of the night. You can see ahead for miles, there are fences all along the road, and just about everyone in the state is either at work or asleep. Far safer than my last trip to the drag strip, wherre the stands are full of people, yet not far from 800 HP monsters breaking axles, cars in the pits tool around at will, and people are drinking alcohol.

Open-tracking is nice I am sure, but it is kind of dangerous when compared to our nation's highway system. The lane is usually narrower than freeways, the shoulders are not consistent, the curves are not designed for street cars going 70 MPH, and traffic has a more aggressive pattern. The road course is not the nadir of safety. You are much safer driving at high speeds on the nation's highways, where there are very long stretches of high visibility and wide, flat, paved shoulders. Of course, you must pick these high-speed excursioons with an eye towards safety, but on a controlled-access roadway, you can at least minimize your risk exposure.

All this is simply academic.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by blue2k2s2k
[B]I say kinda because nobody in their right mind cares what I have to say about street racing, so who am I kidding.

 

I'll just presume you were angry when you wrote that, and not serious about it. Until then, I'll be cleaning my guns and stockpiling ammo. This is America, land of the free! My grandfather would roll in his grave if he read what you wrote!

 

JLabonte, take a chill pill - don't let your panties get in a bunch - or just plain simply sit down a relax for a bit. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed/cot/sofa? I did not mean to have somebody watch over me every move I make or crap like that. I don't know how you saw it that way (the weirdo here could be you) I will assume 99GT didn't see it that way as we've been engaging in this message board conversation for a day or so.

My point was to have something done about those street racers and maybe having some kind of monitoring systems/units will get the job done. Not follow people around at work, in the house, or on the can. If I really stood for that, believe me, I'd shoot myself before you or anyone else can get to me. Sheesh!

Imagine: Dude1 in a "souped" up car sees Dude2 in another "souped" up car on the freeway. The two dudes think they each have something to prove and start going at it in freeway traffic. (freeway traffic being a "safe condition" 99GT can answer that! j/k!) So along comes an indecisive scared of her shadow Mrs. Soccer Mom (possibly a friend of JLabonte's) and Dude1 loses control of his car and slams right into JLabonte's friend. Mrs. Soccer dies, Dude1 lives, Dude2 wins and takes off. This being a safe condition, no witnesses were present since there were no sidewalks, late at night, and no cross-streets (wassup 99GT hehe! j/k!) Dude1 tries to play it off and make it seem like Mrs. Soccer was at fault.

Now wouldn't it be just peachy if all the judge had to do was pull out a fancy GPS unit, placing Dude1 right on the freeway at that exact moment, and then whipping out a little camera documenting the race between Dude1 and Dude2 and the entire crash from start to finish. Dude1 would stand no chance at all. Justice served. I'm being a sarcastic a$$ right now, and to all those who I pissed off and/or angered I guess it's my bad. This is America right, freedom of speech, etc...etc....

Don't wanna be a jerk here, I dis-like street racing as a whole - safe or not safe - shouldn't be on public roads period. My opinion.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 99GT
[B]I am in favor of safety, but not cowering in the corner because of what might happen.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 99GT
[B]Open-tracking is nice I am sure, but it is kind of dangerous when compared to our nation's highway system.