ILLEGAL RACING STATS

Uhh, what is your point, Denis?

That a nearly 100% increase in deaths attributed to illegal street racing is not of any importance?

That you have a dead cat under your house and are seeking a bazooka to kill the flies feasting on the carcass?

That you got another ticket for speeding?

Just wondering......

Larry

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System data for 1998–2001. There were 149,568 fatal crashes and 315 (0.21%) involved street racing.

Another way of saying it is 99.79%of the Fatalities DID NOT involve Street Racing. Not condoning it by any measure, just the stats (two tenths of 1 percent) are pretty small.

In 2008 alone, 5,870 (16% of all fatalities that year) people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (Texting, on Cell Phone, Eating,etc.)

Larry, I just came across those stats and thought that authorities are putting a lot of our hard earned dollars to fight a very small percentage of fatalities. Not that anyone's life has a measurable value, but still think about the millions of dollars spent on awareness and salaries spent on fighting street racing.

Totally stupid as far as I am concerned.

same deal with slowing down in construction zone and drunk driving(50% reduction in deaths since 1980).

Hey I'm all for more safety but let's put the money where it has the largest impact (except more tickets)

What are they going to do next prevent manufacturers from building red cars...well stats prove they have more incidence.

sorry I will get off my soapbox

Denis

I wish the police saw the difference between street racing and "two idiots going fast in cars." I am not necessarily in favor of street racing, but the people I know that do it find a safe place away from traffic and put only themselves at risk.

I agree with Robert. They call every idiot going over 80 that crashes a racer here in SoCal. And then they go look for anyone that was driving a "racey" looking car near him to arrest and accuse of causing the idiot to go fast and crash.

When there is a fatal crash that occurs while "racing" as shown on TV, I rarely see a high performance car, mostly imports and sedans. You don't generally see a Corvette or a NSX or some iron like that. On the other hand, it is surprising that there aren't more fatal accidents when you consider that anybody with money can walk into a dealer and order up, 400, 500 or even more horsepower and we all know how that type of power can get you into trouble quickly.
Something else I have noticed is that in the muscle car days of the sixties, it was common to see a hot Mustang, big-wedge Belvedere, GTO or other muscle machine blasting off from a stop light or even side by side. Now a days it is rare to see somebody really wring-out their Corvette or other high performance automobile. I saw an amazing looking chrome yellow Challenger SRT and the owner was barely idling down the street when he should have been taking it through the gears with gusto! To me this was sad when you know there is so much potential under-foot. Like, why bother getting this type of machinery if you aren't going to drive it like it should be. Electric cars anybody???

Check out what's going on in Ohio regarding street racing. HB191 aka "Monica Durban Law" passed in the house 90-7 on Dec 1. It goes to the senate next.

Basically, if you get convicted of street racing - which now includes ANY AND ALL hard acceleration, high speed, hard cornering, even if no other car is participating - then the court will be REQUIRED, not allowed, REQUIRED to seize your car, with no discretion given to a sentencing judge. So quite literally, if you take off from a light any faster than the rest of traffic, an officer can decide you were racing, arrest you, impound your car, and the court will convict you, take your car and either crush it or sell it at auction.

In addition, if you are a WITNESS to a race, they can decide you were ENCOURAGING the race, and THE SAME PENALTY APPLIES. Worse, there doesn't seem to be any limitation on what can be considered "encouragement" of a race.

Guys with nitrous systems will be required to sign a statement saying you won't use purchased nitrous "in any motor vehicle that I operate on any public road, street, or highway in the state of Ohio".

HB 191

quote:

Monica Durban Law

WOW with all of the old cars in Ohio what in the world is going on now???? Sounds like a bunch of Jack Booted Thugs are running the government???

" Not that anyone's life has a measurable value" actually when a fatality is involved in a car crash and someone is killed and then a civil law suit is filed ..actually a value is put on the person who died. Some factors are did they have children, salary, posessions , potential life ling salary. Things like that.

Street Racing .. thats why race tracks were invented to keep the racing off the streets ... but then the tree huggers and te mot in my back yard folks were born and that kills all the fun ... it there was a track nearby I would go more often.

R

quote:

Monica Durban Law

Here's some of the rest of the story...

Apparently, Monica’s (the girl who almost died when her car was hit by the ricer street racer) father just happens to be an attorney and just happens to know Ohio State representative Tom Celeste who sponsors the bill...

...but texting and talking on cells phones while driving is not against the law in Ohio.

They are coming for us all....

quote:

Sounds like a bunch of Jack Booted Thugs are running the government???

"Land of the free..."

quote:

Street Racing .. thats why race tracks were invented to keep the racing off the streets ... but then the tree huggers and te mot in my back yard folks were born and that kills all the fun ... it there was a track nearby I would go more often.

How true... You can't race on the street but the government makes it near impossible for someone to run a legitimate track.
Will

4,000 That is the number of teen driver deaths each year. That's a big number. In fact it is so big, I'm gonna check my facts. 3298 deaths of teens in 2008. according to this site. http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehicl...ivers_factsheet.html

4000 teen deaths is a large number but there is no indication that street racing was a significant contributing factor in that number.

I have zero tolerance for street racing (especially on busy urban streets) and too many innocent people have been killed or had property damaged as a result of it. BUT, when people say "take it to the track", they probably haven't actually tried to do that themselves or are unaware of the cost of doing so.

It is almost impossible to get zoning approval to build a track that is within an hour's drive of any residential areas in Canada and so there really are very few around. The noise restrictions are insane (my GT40 exceeds the noise limits of my "local" (over a 1.5 hour drive away) track by EIGHT TIMES, and that is after I installed two huge mufflers. I'm not even sure my Pantera would pass. Then there is the cost. I guess for some people laying out $500 for a few hours of safe, fun driving seems reasonable, but it's not in the budget for the majority of car guys. Since the tracks must have high insurance, safety crews etc., they are often not making enough money to stay in business even at their seemingly high rates.

There needs to be a better solution than fining and jailing anyone with a fast car that wants to enjoy it every now and then.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
4,000 That is the number of teen driver deaths each year. [/url]

That's total deaths!!! included are pedestrian deaths. My original point is as related to Racing, measured by an independant (google NHTSA racing). Now some provinces/states are now reducing the DWI .08 down to .05%. Those number are going down over the last 10 years (2008 had 13,846 deaths -total USA). Note the many of DWI offenders are repeat offenders often with a suspended license therefore skewing the numbers

I just feel like the polititians have used the 'sympathetic vote' to spend our money (police salaries) to tax (tickets) the drivers by bunching a whole lot of issues within their definition, and in the process add more artilery to their arsenal at our expense. Never mind giving warnings/tickets to people driving 45 in the left lane, or those failing to signal, driving beat-up or unsafe cars....

I'd be lying if I said I never drove very fast on the highway..but I believe I am wiser now..and can discern when/where it is safe to be crazy for a fewminutes.. boys will be boys.

Under stood...The point I was trying to make is " You never hear about the problem of teen drivers dying" They bring up Illegal racing, drunk driving...How do you protect your teen? Don't let them out Friday or Sat night because that's when most get killed.. Good luck.. Bill 1362

I understand why people should get in trouble for driving like idiots, in fact, I am a supporter of it.

I wish they had some kind of tiered speed based on vehicle capabilities and driver training.