street racing....

[rwilcox]

Everyone probably heard the news on the weekend about the couple that has been killed due to 2 teenagers racing their civics. I just don't understand why this has to happen. There is no reason for people to be killed if you want to race then race on a track, but stay off the roads. I just wanted to vent alittle, because it just doesn't makes sense to me.

[Scooter]

I totally agree with you, but what you have to remember is that IN GENERAL, kids don't have money, and they can't afford / don't want to pay to go to the track.

When you're young, you make really stupid decisions. Put yourself back a few years and think what you would have done when you were 18 or something like that.....pay to go to a track, or race on a street for free.

Please don't get me wrong here, because I agree that street racing is just stupid. But I'm just playing devil's advocate.

And as much as people don't want to admit it.....I dont think the Fast and the Furious movies help the situation much. I know, that a movie, or a video game don't MAKE you race. But they definitely make it look acceptable, and fun. And some people aren't smart enough to think of the consequences before trying it themselves.

For everyone's sake, I hope the fad dies down as well. But I doubt it will for a while.

[red-i]

what bugged me is that the the racer's buddies all showed up at the scene and tried to get by the police tape to snap pictures... at least that's what was being said on the radio this morning.

apparently they're working on legislation to make street racing a criminal offense.

[superdave]

Originally Posted by Scooter

For everyone's sake, I hope the fad dies down as well. But I doubt it will for a while.

Thats the thing though - Its not a fad. Street racing always has and always will be present... You wouldn't know that though with the media making it seem like import tuners invented street racing. The fast and the furious just brought it back into the spotlight...

[Diddy]

the main problems with young people racing on the streets are:
1) for the rush
2) bragging rights
3) immaturity

i'm not for street racing either...but one way or another, i'm sure most, if not all of us, have done this when we're younger...it's just a maturity process....
i mean...who can honestly say that they have NEVER sped on the road before? who has never pulled away from a stop light to try and beat another car? Those are acts of street racing believe it or not....even tho u'r not blatantly racing someone specifically, you're still committing that crime

[thekid]

I agree, street racing has no place and it would be fantastic if taking it to the track was more practical like Darren said. Unfortunately, everyone tells people to take it to the track, and then when you take it to the track the police setup checkpoints just outside the track on the way home so that they can target all the cars that just did what you asked them to. Not only that, but the insurnace companies show up to figure out who's racing their cars at the track (a complete violation of your insurance policy).

I don't know if anyone has read the proposed legislation, but from what I've read it's going to give the police very broad discretion, and their is not a very good definition being layed out of what is being considered street racing.

If you look at the current highway traffic act, their are more than enough laws to deal with this without creating new ones. I quote a portion of the act I found on another site:

Criminal Code of Canada
Section 249.
(1) Every one commits an offence who operates

(a) a motor vehicle in a manner that is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances, including the nature, condition and use of the place at which the motor vehicle is being operated and the amount of traffic that at the time is or might reasonably be expected to be at that place;...

...Dangerous operation causing bodily harm
(3) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) and thereby causes bodily harm to any other person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.

Dangerous operation causing death
(4) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) and thereby causes the death of any other person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

Highway Traffic Act

Section 130 - Careless driving
Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both, and in addition his or her licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 130.


How much more legislation do we really need?

At the end of the day, street racing has got to stop, but we have to be very careful how it's done because this new legislation is setting up a very slipery slope.

[thekid]

the big difference between now and 20 years ago, is people are street racing in highly populated areas, where as back then they would drive out in to the country where the odds of seeing anyone else were really rare... not saying the latter is ideal either, but at least the chances of a collision involving innocent people are minimized

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by superdave

Thats the thing though - Its not a fad. Street racing always has and always will be present... You wouldn't know that though with the media making it seem like import tuners invented street racing. The fast and the furious just brought it back into the spotlight...

yeah, you're right. And it's typical of our society to jump on the bandwagon of whatever the media shoves down our throats and say "oh, that's so bad....yadda yadda".

I can't stand the news. It's unreliable, biased, and just plain pisses me off. Doesn't matter where you get your news from ....... CP24, the Globe, CNN, they're all the same.

A few years back the "problem" in our city was raves and drug use. Then we moved on to Street Racing. Well.......what happened to the raves, and Toronto's "Drug Problem"? Did it just dissapear overnight? Nope....people got bored of that storyline, so the media decided to move on to the next one.....enter street racing.

Lame

[ESsedan01]

Originally Posted by thekid

the big difference between now and 20 years ago, is people are street racing in highly populated areas, where as back then they would drive out in to the country where the odds of seeing anyone else were really rare... not saying the latter is ideal either, but at least the chances of a collision involving innocent people are minimized

Exactly. However you don't even have to go back as far as 20 years. You just need to travel out to rural communities. I met a guy about 10 years back that lived north of Barrie and owned a 69' Nova with a big block. Him and his buddies would drive out to this country side road where they had a 1/4 mile marked out on the road with white paint. Another couple cars would block the road off about a mile or so down the road to on coming cars.

Kids in the city that want to race have no respect for other people on the road. Racing light to light on a busy street is no way to prove your faster then the car in the lane next to you...just plain stupid!

[Hedges]

I get so ***in upset when i hear stupid little punks with there hondas racing down thinking for a second thinking there car is fast? I say this all the time that its these punks that discourage me from doing anything to my car! Look like a ***in kid, oh well time for a M3 or G35 and play with the big boys