[Kev]

Three local teenagers were doing a little street racing last night, one of them was related to my neighbor across the street. Yes, was. It doesn’t matter what car they were driving, it doesn’t matter what car they were racing. It doesn’t matter who won in fact, nobody won. The racing ended with one of the cars smashing into a power pole. One of the boys died at the scene, the other two were rushed to the local hospital in critical condition.

My neighbors relation was one of the survivors of the wreck. He was air lifted to a more sophisticated facility in another town where he died this morning. Three young men not yet out of High School. Members of the football team, healthy, vibrant, full of life. No longer for two of them, maybe for the third as well. Only time and God will tell.

Please think about that the next time you are tempted to race on the street. Racing is fine in the proper venue with adequate safety gear and precautions and emergency response on hand.

Life is precious. Use yours wisely and enjoy it longer!

 

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

wow thats terrible

 

[danbuc]

damn, that's why I haven't tried to race anybody in months. I gave up trying to dodge traffic. It's just too dangerous these days with so many cars on the road.

 

[davesdeville]

I steet race once in awhile, and I keep it reasonably safe. I don't race to speeds that I deem to be dangerous, although it may exceed what the government thinks is dangerous. I don't race in or around traffic or weave through traffic to get a race. If you kill yourself racing, oh well. I'd feel bad for their friends and family if I knew them, but otherwise meh.

I'm a douchebag, yeah yeah I know. Whatever.

 

[mccombie_5]

Its a shame. I cannot estimate what the families are going through.

Although I am old enough to know better, i do race occasionally, it isnt as if i am racing on city streets, usually open, clear, highway, and i go no higher than 100-120 at any time. I do like a challenge on country roads, again, its never dangerously fast, i just like to see what my cars are capable of.

Its a shame all the same. :nono: I would never race someone on a two way road where I or they would be on the side of oncoming traffic. Thats just suicide.

 

[Kev]

I'm just as guilty of racing on the streets too. I've mellowed quite a lot lately, the DeVille has helped! It's not quite as snappy as my Mustang. I think I should avoid getting a V (as though I could afford one right now), too much temptation for me.

One of the biggest problems with street racing is the unexpected. A car pulls out in front of you, an animal runs across your path, you can't avoid a fresh oil or water spill, you have a tire blow out, etc. I used to do a lot of road racing on the winding roads behind Santa Barbara. Part of the thrill and fear was coming up fast on a blind corner wondering if there was someone coming the oposite direction doing the same thing I was.

Dangerously fast might be considered a relative term. It was estimated that the boys I mentioned above were only doing between 50 and 70 when they hit the pole. The one who died at the scene was thrown from the car, he was 16. The other two were 17.

 

[addison_ii]

Wow, that's a terrible story. While it is clearly their fault why this tragedy happened, it's still sad to hear when someone who had their whole life in front of them dies.

 

[mccombie_5]

Yeah. I get you Kev, the Deville will help alot i am sure!

Although i did race a Rover V8 in my STS on Sunday, that was pretty much open road, i didnt have to get above 90. I drive about that on the open road anyway.

The most tempting ones for me are the smaller cars i have, because both the Vectra and Astra are the GSi performance models. The Rover GTa it also a top spec model, although that only has a 1.4 litre engine.

Also i have found myself putting my foot down in the S600.

I wont race anyhting in that, i wouldnt like to go into a corner at any speed in thjat German panzowagen!

 

[95Concours]

I steet race once in awhile, and I keep it reasonably safe. I don't race to speeds that I deem to be dangerous, although it may exceed what the government thinks is dangerous. I don't race in or around traffic or weave through traffic to get a race. If you kill yourself racing, oh well. I'd feel bad for their friends and family if I knew them, but otherwise meh.

I'm a douchebag, yeah yeah I know. Whatever.

Why would you post that?

 

[davesdeville]

Was expecting a whole bunch of

'OMG racing is bad and you'll kill a busload of grandmothers every time'

So I figured I'd put my 2 cents in.

 

[JC316]

Street racing is idiotic. I NEVER race my car not matter how much the other guy is asking for it. What I will do is goose the gas pedal every now and then, only going over the speed limit under a rare circumstance. I feel sorry for those kids families, but they shouldn't have been acting STUPID. There is no reason to get killed in a car trying to prove who has the faster car or who has the biggest balls. I nearly got run over by some jackass in a ricer doing well over a 100MPH on a residental farm road with a speed limit of 55. He was about 5 houses (1000 feet) away when I pulled out, by the time I went 200 feet he was passing me! I swear if it were my kid and I found out he was street racing or going that far over the limit, he would find his ass in a 84 buick. Something so heavy, that you cant race it and if you do hit a light pole, you are going to walk away.

 

[mccombie_5]

Recently my older son got flashed going through a speed camera at 56 in a 30 limit. He was in my BMW 545i. I confiscated the car from him, and put him in his own Vauxhall Corsa. It worked, he is a much safer driver and ive seen fit to give him the BMW back.

My son is responsible compared to some men his age.

 

[Adam]

sadly enough that happens alot in my neck of the woods. i work at a large hospital (2nd largest in the region, our sister hospital is bigger) and we get med flights from all over Southwest Virginia, NE TN, SE KY all them areas. i cant go a week without a full arrest coming in or a doa coming in from street racing. it is sad, ive seen alot of these kids cut up, necks broke, burned/ burned to death, seen a guy come in who had 3rd degree burns over 90% of his body and he was still alive. he didnt make it obviously. ive seen decapitations, ive seen them come in with limbs and other extremities missing. its a sad thing. if i do race someone it is clear and on the highway (sometimes interstate, especially on saturdays when no one is on the interstate, just me and the road). i hate to hear these stories, i posted a similar one about using nos on the road. i hate to see the families and friends that come in to view the body. it is a sad thing, some have even had to be put in the hospital. its a terrible tradgedy. once two very close sisters raced a guy and they wrecked. the one had alot of problems and stuff but lived, her younger sister didnt, died on the operating table, split her aorta. the sister was told when she finally was awake enough about 3 days after the accident. thank you Kev for sharing that, it is a good reminder that we should drive safe, that the next second is not guaranteed to us or our passengers or anyone else on the road.

Three local teenagers were doing a little street racing last night, one of them was related to my neighbor across the street. Yes, was. It doesn’t matter what car they were driving, it doesn’t matter what car they were racing. It doesn’t matter who won in fact, nobody won. The racing ended with one of the cars smashing into a power pole. One of the boys died at the scene, the other two were rushed to the local hospital in critical condition.

My neighbors relation was one of the survivors of the wreck. He was air lifted to a more sophisticated facility in another town where he died this morning. Three young men not yet out of High School. Members of the football team, healthy, vibrant, full of life. No longer for two of them, maybe for the third as well. Only time and God will tell.

Please think about that the next time you are tempted to race on the street. Racing is fine in the proper venue with adequate safety gear and precautions and emergency response on hand.

Life is precious. Use yours wisely and enjoy it longer!

 

[Chrome]

I used to really like bending cars around corners at speeds most people would consider "dangerous"...
But, now I drive an '81 Caddy Hearse. I've been in 2 ton army trucks that corner better than it does, but I've become more laid back and like to cruise now...
Kinda like my motorcycles... I don't own a crotch rocket because I know all I would do is go out and get stupid. I've got a big v-twin Harley clone, and it doesn't corner real well either, so I'm pretty laid back on it too.

I live in the Kansas City area, and we don't have a huge street racing scene, but there are way too many kids dying doing it.

My condolences to the families, and to their friends, and to those involved that survived. Another thing kids (and some adults) don't understand is that their choices affect many more people than just themselves. I have three grown kids, I know at least how they think...

I'm very sorry for those that died, but another thing people need to understand, if you're going to play the game, sometimes you lose.

 

[JC316]

It has really become bad since movies like "The Fast and the Furious" came out. Smoking used to be what was considered cool, because most saw it on Tv, now it is street racing. Most kids are sheep now, they just go with what is considered "cool", so they can be popular. The need to be popular overrides any common sense that kids might have. Really sad.

 

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

It has really become bad since movies like "The Fast and the Furious" came out. Smoking used to be what was considered cool, because most saw it on Tv, now it is street racing. Most kids are sheep now, they just go with what is considered "cool", so they can be popular. The need to be popular overrides any common sense that kids might have. Really sad.

I have noticed this a lot. Back at high school, I can remember it was cool to peel out of the parking lot which I would partake in once in a while (my Buick could really smoke 'em ) but after a while that got dumb. And you were even cooler if you were smoking a cigarette and bonus points if you were on your cell phone! Wow, looking back, we did a lot of dumb things back then. :alchi:
Thank god I never smoked.

But now in college, we're more mature and responsible, you dont look cool by doing burnouts, and constantly being on your cell phone is not cool anymore, and smoking is just plain dumb. God I hated high school.

 

[mccombie_5]

When i was in the last year of high school i bought my Cortina. I drove a Jaguar E-Type before that which was THE coolest car on the planet.

You didnt need to drive fast in one of those to be cool, you just had to be sitting in it.

THen I could afford my OWN car, and it was crap. It was a 1974 Ford Cortina, i got it when it was a year old.

http://www.ianhardy.net/albums/bvvr001/crw_3503l_std_std.jpg

RWD, and it had a 2.0 litre engine, only four cyl, but it was better than the 1.6's my pals had, i used to be pretty wreckless with that car.

I was still cool, because i had a fast car, but it nearly killed me a few times.

Oddly enough, i got a car three years later with a 3500 V8 (Rover SD1, Buick sourced) and it made me laid back. It was a VERY fast car, but it made me calm, i would blast people occasionally, but NEVER anything like i see kids doing today, racing on the streets.

 

[Katshot]

Damn shame. Unfortunately, kids will be kids, and that means kids will always die as a result of making bad decisions. I'm absolutely guilty of doing a lot of crazy stuff over my life both on and off the road, both on motorcycles and in cars. Fortunately, I've survived my many injuries (many freinds and family compare me to a cat with their 9 lives). As I've aged and become more in touch with my mortality, I take far fewer risks than I did when I was young. IMO, the human male is unfortunately forced to exist with the following:
When we are young and wild, more willing to take risks, we are less able to handle the circumstances due to our general lack of experience and skills. As we aquire these necessary skills, for some reason we seem less likely to get our selves into situations that require them. Go figure.

 

[mccombie_5]

BEcause we think abotu the consequences of taking risks because we have the experience from previous consequences and devide we arent going to do that again

 

[auroradude]

I used to drag race the streets a lot. Not just in my car but the 390 horse vehicle that sits here in the garage all the time and never even gets driven.

There are a lot of spots around here that is popular for friday night summer street dragging, that i wont mention...but its easy to get up past 100 in a matter of seconds and slow down safely enough without hammering the brakes to avoid crashing.

I stopped doing it for a while after I went to the track with my car and after it ran a 15.8 I figured i shouldnt drive it too hard anymore in front of some ricers because its not as fast as it sounds. That said, I kicked a lot of ricer's asses around here with even my car.

3 of my really good friends got impounded and arrested and lost their licenses for a year so I wont be doing it anymore. Especially if its not in my car...LOL.