Illegal Street Racing
Illegal Street Racing
At least once a week, we hear on the news about someone dying as a result of illegal street racing. Sometimes, it's the driver or passenger of the car that is racing who gets killed, but often times its innocent bystanders or drivers of other cars who are killed by the reckless teens who engage in a highly dangerous activity. First of all, what is illegal street racing, think "Fast and the Furious", and second, what can be done to stop this from happening or at least reduce the amount of deaths that occur each year as a result of illegal street racing? This final paper will explore these questions and provide one possible solution to this on-going problem.
Street racing has been around since the early 1930's and probably even longer. Peoples desire to push the limits of their automobile has created competition which ultimately spawned racing. Since illegal street racing takes place on public roads, it is hard to control every variable that may occur resulting in crashes that involve innocent bystanders.
Today, in most cities across the united stated, young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 cruise around town in their cars on Friday or Saturday night looking for action. Over the years, movies and video games have sensationalized illegal street racing. The movie series called "The Fast and the Furious" and the video game "Need for Speed" focus heavily on street racing and they portray it as being a totally cool thing to do without any adverse consequences, such as car crashes or killing someone. These movies and games give the perception that the driver is invincible, which is very far from reality.
In 2001 the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ("NHTSA") reported that illegal street racing was a factor in 135 fatal crashes compared to only 72 the year before. More alarming however, is that 49 people out of every 1000 that engage in street racing end up being injured. (NHRA,2008). In Hawaii, the Honolulu
At least once a week, we hear on the news about someone dying as a result of illegal street racing. Sometimes, it's the driver or passenger of the car that is racing who gets killed, but often times its innocent bystanders or drivers of other cars who are killed by the reckless teens who engage in a highly dangerous activity. First of all, what is illegal street racing, think "Fast and the Furious", and second, what can be done to stop this from happening or at least reduce the amount of deaths that occur each year as a result of illegal street racing? This final paper will explore these questions and provide one possible solution to this on-going problem.
Street racing has been around since the early 1930's and probably even longer. Peoples desire to push the limits of their automobile has created competition which ultimately spawned racing. Since illegal street racing takes place on public roads, it is hard to control every variable that may occur resulting in crashes that involve innocent bystanders.
Today, in most cities across the united stated, young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 cruise around town in their cars on Friday or Saturday night looking for action. Over the years, movies and video games have sensationalized illegal street racing. The movie series called "The Fast and the Furious" and the video game "Need for Speed" focus heavily on street racing and they portray it as being a totally cool thing to do without any adverse consequences, such as car crashes or killing someone. These movies and games give the perception that the driver is invincible, which is very far from reality.
In 2001 the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ("NHTSA") reported that illegal street racing was a factor in 135 fatal crashes compared to only 72 the year before. More alarming however, is that 49 people out of every 1000 that engage in street racing end up being injured. (NHRA,2008). In Hawaii, the Honolulu