Racing In The Streets

7 Pages 1677 Words

Imagine yourself sitting in the driver’s seat of your car. Now imagine that your dream machine has a supercharged, nitrous oxide injected engine with more horsepower than an Indy car. The driver in the vehicle next to you gives you the familiar glance and nod. You both rev up your engines, attempting to intimidate the other into backing down. It doesn’t work. The man standing between your cars raises his arms up into the air. You pause, visualizing what will happen next. The man drops his arms; you hammer the gas pedal. In seconds you pass fifty, sixty, seventy miles per hour. In less that half of a minute and one-quarter of a mile, you muscle your car past the other driver and exceed 100 miles per hour. When you return to the starting line, you are congratulated by your friends, fellow racers, and those who just came to watch the races. No money is involved, at least not this time, and you sit, eager to again prove that you have the fastest car on the street. This scene is played out all too often on our city and suburban streets. Is this life of “the fast and the furious” endangering innocent lives? If it is, then how do we solve it?
Is street racing a problem? The answer is without a doubt, yes. The real question is: “how great is the danger??” “This summer four teenagers and a twenty-one year old have died in three separate incidents from Salem, NH, to Haverhill, MA, which police suspect were related to kids racing cars.” (Ford & Levinthal) Street racing is not just limited to New England. In fact, “‘in every major metropolitan area there is a problem with street racing,’ according to Denny Darnell, spokesman for the Glendora-based NHRA.” (Rebels with Cause) In Los Angeles alone “eight young people have died in the last year [1998] in accidents involving illegal street racing.” (City to Pursue) “Simple statistical evidence points to the fact that when a group of males, age 15-24 -...