Jeremiah 29:11

What not to do in your Challenger.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/22/str...tml#cnnSTCText


Addicted to the rush of the race


Story Highlights
Illegal racing at "ridiculous" levels in U.S., one law enforcement official says

No national database to track street racing arrests

Street racers say they're drawn by adrenalin rush

Police struggle to find appropriate deterrents

By Brad Lendon
January 22, 2008
CNN

(CNN) -- Gavin Simcoe hadn't planned on nearly killing himself. He was just with a couple of buddies that night of September 25. But street racing came up. There was trash talking about whose car was faster.

"I said, 'I think mine can beat yours,' " Simcoe says. His friends agreed, "let's go out and do it then."

They chose a straight two-lane road. It had hills, something Simcoe needed for a running start because first gear in his 1993 Honda Civic EX didn't work.

Simcoe says he hit 110 mph really fast. But then, headlights. A car was coming out of a driveway. He swerves, rolls. He feels twigs scratch his face and envisions his parents at his funeral.

"I was thinking, not me, not me," Simcoe says. "I really thought I was going to die."

Illegal street racing has reached what one law enforcement official calls "ridiculous" levels in the United States, causing a number of deaths. Simcoe knows he's lucky to be alive.

"The fire department told me that when they see this, nine out of 10 times the kid's dead, and if they're alive then they're gonna be missing some limbs or they're gonna be a paraplegic," Simcoe says. He had a concussion, some scratches and bruises.

A few months later, the thrill of racing wasn't gone. Yeah, he'd started lecturing others on the dangers of street racing, but he also watched "The Fast and the Furious," the Hollywood hit that some experts say has brought street racing to new heights of popularity.

He wants to race again -- this time on a track. "Racing to me is like adrenalin," Simcoe says.

Authorities say more and more drivers are seeking that adrenalin high.

"The last four years it's been out of control," says Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller, public affairs officer for Troop D in Orlando.

In the 10 days ending January 1, four people in her jurisdiction died, including a teen bicyclist just riding alongside the road.

There also have been deaths in other parts of the country.

There's no database tracking street racing deaths, but a Google search hints at the scope. Police say a 21-year-old man was killed while street racing in Copiague, New York, on January 6; a Texas City, Texas, teen killed in late December racing his best friend; a 60-year-old Bakersfield, California, grandmother killed in an accident with street racers in October; a 15-year-old boy killed in an accident with street racers in Elk Grove, California, in June. Those cases are found just in the first 30 matches on a Google search of "street racing deaths."

The California Highway Patrol says it gave out 697 citations for participating in a "speed contest" in 2006. Those numbers were down from 2007, but CHP spokesman Tom Marshall says those statistics cover only highway patrol jurisdictions, not local surface streets where many races occur.

Bryan C. Harrison, president of Evo Street Racers, which runs a Web site on street racing, says the lack of official statistics makes it impossible to say if more or fewer people are racing and dying.

"I often caution anyone who claims a specific trend ... because often it is very misleading and statistically inaccurate," Harrison says, but "one death is one too many."

How they roll

Police and street racing experts say there are at least three types of challenges:

• spontaneous contests between drivers who wind up at the same red light or stop sign on public roads;

• roving parties where r

mopar2ya

This showed up on the local news web site this a.m.

Driver critically injured in 120 mph street race

06:01 PM PST on Tuesday, January 22, 2008

By RAY LANE / KING 5 News

Driver critically injured in Hwy 167 street race RENTON, Wash. – One man is in critical condition after a high-speed race ended when a car hit a DOT truck on Highway 167 in Renton Monday night, according to the Washington State Patrol.

But the father of one of the young men who is now in jail after the crash says, that's not what happened.

Investigators say the two were street racing around 10 p.m., tearing through a Washington State Department of Transportation construction zone near S. 180th Street. Troopers say both vehicles – a Dodge Neon and a BMW 645 C-I were going more than 120 miles per hour into a lane closure area when the Neon hit the truck.

The driver of the Neon, a 22-year-old, is in critical condition. Troopers say he was left hanging outside the back passenger window.

The DOT truck driver was not hurt. Giant shock absorbers on the back of the truck are designed to handle such collisions.

The BMW driver, a 19-year-old man, is under arrest for investigation of vehicular assault. His father, Thomas Mathew, says both of the drivers are best friends, work together and live only a few miles apart. He says he often told his son to pray before driving and he doesn't believe that his son was street racing.

"No, my son never. He never sped. Never like that," said Mathew.

State troopers say the evidence points otherwise.

"Is it worth it? And that something we have to get to the root of the issue. Why do people feel the need to do this?" said Trooper Cliff Pratt.

The State Patrol says it's eager to hear from other witnesses who saw the crash or the moments before it. The suspect will have his first court appearance Wednesday.

Amazing to think of the parents denial in thinking thier kids would never race.
Also thought it was interesting... Neon vs. BMW.
Hope the kid comes through ok...

Mopar_Nut

It had to be an SRT-4, going 120mph and all. I think an SRT-4 would give a beemer a run for its money. But a crash at 120, I would think he'd be dead.

TechmanBD

I like how parents say "My kid wouldn't do anything like that". Um yes they would, and as the police said, the evidence is there.

1 Bad Mirada

it happens every day, thousands of times, all over the world. everywhere with cars has "street racing", but since our government cant figure out how to handle any of the other REAL problems like homelessness, unemployment, drug use, alcoholism, etc...they instead decide to go after anyone who they feel is street racing.

mercedes benz and auto union used to test their cars head to head on public roads...as did ford motor company against other US companies.

the government makes it out to be this enormous epidemic just to help justify the costs that are poured into stopping it...so they blow the situation WAY out of proportion so that when they catch one or two of the people street racing, they can FINALLY say that they are accomplishing something...then again, while they are sitting at car shows in repossessed cars, waiting for street racers, drugs are being sold to children...rapes and murders are being committed. its good that theyre sitting around waiting for street racers...because thats the REAL problem in this country.

this area has a handful of street racing enforcement officers, and one has a built black camaro SS. theyre doing such a great job of stopping street racing, that i saw two cars tearing down an empty stretch of road this weekend at WELL over 100 miles an hour.

law enforcement has gotten to the point where too many of them are no where near as smart as they think that they are, and the real criminals have gotten smarter...so the police struggle to solve any real crimes, so instead they lurk the streets watching for short burst races from a stop light...

but the media, with the help of the police, post these horrific stories about street racing gone wrong...even though hundreds if not thousands of what they call street races take place daily without any incident....more murders take place in detroit each day then street racing accidents, yet they dont bring light to the fact that they cant slow down the drug or gang problems, but they have no problem hassling kids with quick cars.

ive been involved in hundreds of street races...ive never been in an accident and ive never gotten cited for it...although those were more often in my younger days. i used to street race in a car with my name on the door, and the police still couldnt figure out who drove the white car known around my old area for racing all the time (and winning). the best is when they would send some narc to the place where we all hung out...some middle aged turd in a mildly built mustang, wearing a bulletproof vest...who shows up and says something like "whats shaking guys...where are the races tonight"...

then again, the people who are killing themselves racing are the idiots who do it on crowded roads, in traffic, etc...almost all of my racing was done in the middle of the night in the middle of no where.

a 1993 civic ex getting to 100 fast? his first gear didnt work? must be a nice car that he was racing in... sounds like two kids who dont know how to launch, so they went "from a roll"...

RLSH700

Honestly, the best way for these kids to get it out of their system is to go to these tracks that will let you do acceleration runs and sometimes armature racing. I hate seeing stories like this because we all know what will follow this. "The Government must SAVE our children from those evil car companies who want to kill us with fast cars." Then laws will pass trying to ruin good cars like the Challenger because some parents can't be responsible enough to keep their children under control.

1 Bad Mirada

thats a good point. for some reason, there is no responsibiity placed on the parents. when i was 18, i had a 13 second car...this was in 1997. a 1997 mustang cobra ran similar times to my car..maybe a shade slower (when stock). however, when i started driving when i was 16, that same car only ran in the mid 16s....and it started in the high 17s. my dad and i added parts gradually, so that i could get a feel for the speed as it came along, and as i gained experience...i have respect for the power of all of my vehicles, and i feel that in a short amount of time i can get a good grasp of what a car is safely capable of...while i dont have a stable of 10 second cars, i do have a low 12 second car, a low 14 second car, a mid 14 second truck, and a high 15 second car...also, the demon should be in the 13s whenever we get around to finishing it. many people wont own a 12 second car in their life, so my cars do rank quicker than many people's cars...ive never been an accident, and only once have i gotten a speeding ticket...and that was in a rental pacifica in an area where the speed limit dropped from 70 to 55, and i had the cruise set at 73...i didnt notice the drop, and it was my fault. however, in all of my years of high performance and high speed driving, ive not had an incident...because my dad taught me to respect the vehicle...but SO many of the suburbanite parents, who have no idea what todays cars (especially when modded) are capable of what they throw their kid into it and allow the kid to "boost it", not understanding what that means,a nd when little johnny goes from mid 16s to high 13s, there is a BIG change, and they often cannot handle it....and these stories happen.

i find that people often jump on me for suggesting that a parent should be punished for the action of the child...but from a legal standpoint, consider this. say that a high school senior goes out and gets drunk. hes 18, but he lives at home, under the parents roof, as a rider on their insurance. while drunk, he unfortunately makes the decision to go for a cruise and he slams into another car, killing a passenger. guess who gets sued? not the kid..the parents...and the relatives of the victim would almost surely win.

mopar2ya

In defense of parents... kids will be kids. My folks never taught me to, or condoned racing, but we did our share when I was younger... you can only tell your kids so much. Might not be a bad thing if parents tried to get involved with thier kids in some sort of competition motorsports though if they have the means. Competition in a controlled environment seems to lend itself to respect of the sport.

RLSH700

Good points, gradual increases are the way to go. I'm not entirely sure if punishing the parents via prison is the full extent of what I'm suggesting, maybe more of a "it's your kid and your responsibility when he or she messes up" meaning slapping them with fines and punishing the brat. I really get sick with what kids get away with these days. I never tried any of that stuff because from a young age my father drove into my head, "you will respect authority and obey the laws like it or not." When my father told me to do something, it was to be followed no questions asked. I'm not sure though how to get parents to be real parents again other than to put the fear back into their minds that if their brats aren't under control, they will be in the slammer with people who might give the term some undesirable meaning. To a degree, the law needs to get out of the way of preventing parents from being parents. From what I find, the laws trying to prevent child abuse does not stop it from happening, it just punishes good parents and lets the truly abusive parents off free to further abuse.

kramtrah

my Dad made it plain and simple when I got my liscense, you get a speeding ticket in my car, you don't drive the car again. That sounded true with me as a young kid, as I didn't own my own vehicle until I was a Senior in HS, a super fast (kidding) '80 Dodge Omni TC3. Certainly not the peak of achievement from Chrysler, but it was mine.