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Dangers of Street Racing

Besides receiving a hefty ticket—or worse, dying—the dangers of street racing are plentiful and speak for themselves, but an avid look into the nature of this phenomena is necessary for change.

By Gerald OppugnePublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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Aside from the most obvious catastrophe of losing one's life, the dangers of street racing have amassed greatly since the introduction of inexpensive vehicles with extraordinary horse power and speedometers easily reaching past 150. Cars moving so fast you can't even see them—nor control them—just isn't what they were built for, and the dangers of street racing proves this fact. Unlike popular belief, this is not how any of the top NASCAR drivers initiated their careers, in all likelihood street racing will only end your career, or at least your driving one when your license gets revoked.

Not to mention the fact that speeding just isn't good on your car overall, driving like a maniac alongside other (or worse) street racing idiots will most assuredly be met with injury and/or death. One of my best friends passed away for her presence in the passenger seat of a street racing vehicle that ended up going too fast and drove right under a moving truck's trailer. She, along with that really intelligent driver, were decapitated upon impact.

Ignoring Red Lights

When going at an unknown rate in miles per hour, chances are you're going to miss that red light (or, simply ignore it altogether). Yeah, you might get in some cheap yips and some laughs about breaking the law and whatnot, but you've now become a danger to the road, and your motor vehicle has now become a weapon of mass destruction.

Which is why ignoring red lights is among dangers of street racing. While it may not seem like much, if you miss a red, you're more than likely going to crash and probably hurt more than yourself, especially if you're driving with a passenger.

Prison

Oh yeah, beyond receiving a simple warning (or, oftentimes, a ticket that ranges between $355 to $1000, and upwards in penalties), you can also potentially be sent to prison depending on the happenstance of your arrest. For how long, you might be wondering and, no pun intended, but life is a high chance, as in the case of Dealtier Lockhart.

Lockhart, who was from California, got charged with second-degree murder (among other misdemeanors) for racing his Dodge Challenger alongside another vehicle, both of which lost control and crashed into a parcel trunk. That's one example; there's plenty among dangers of street racing.

Rain

Yikes. Talk about dangerous; racing when it's raining out is literally asking death to meet for drinks, and boy is he there waiting for you. Among the dangers of street racing, I'd say rain takes the cake as probably the worst (or, at least, the scariest of them all).

Beyond even the mere connotations of instant death, you're actually more than likely to be severely injured, then necessitating a machine to support your life, which is now ruined thanks to street races in the rain. Oh, and don't even get me started on other inclement weathers, like snow or hail; street racing in general should just be avoided at all costs.

Car Body Damage

When driving in pothole season becomes racing in pothole season, you know you've got a problem. Not to mention the irreparable damage that can be done to your car, potholes can seriously mess you up if driven on at increasing speeds. In addition, you tend to lose control of the car when running over potholes, which only adds to the possibilities of injury or death.

The likelihood of a flat is obviously among the scariest dangers of street racing, but this can also be chalked up as a happenstance of poor driving, not street racing as a whole. So, if your friends love driving at fast speeds and tend to go right over pot holes without care or concern for passengers (or for themselves) best get out of the car, and explain to them their unsatisfactory driving techniques.

Expenditures

On top of all the money race heads love to spend on nitros oxide, subwoofers, and air intakes, there's also the possibility of then having to pay (on top of a ticket, if you're lucky) the cost of your crashed vehicle. Insurance is no pretty thing after a ticket with points on your license, and this is only burdened if you were involved in a major car accident.

We're not talking pennies or chump change, neither. Among the dangers of street racing, the upended costs exceeding well over $10,000 after a major accident or speeding, overall, is likely to be the worst of issues you will have to face, but not the only one.

Vandalism

Though more unlikely among dangers of street racing, vandalism is still extremely possible, since crowds of people tend to flock in hopeful anticipation in seeing something akin to the worst exotic car crashes in history, which is most likely what they'll get.

Due to these massive crowds of hooligans, the increase of vandalism and littering does occur. And, thanks to these racers and their love for particular areas of note or interest, businesses often receive the blunt end of the street racing weekend, only expounded if a crash has occurred.

Road Degradation

While hitting a pothole at excessive speeds may be cause for alarm when going well beyond the speed limit, there's also the wear and tear on major roads and highways in connotation with the dangers of street racing.

This is one of those things the TheFast and The Furious movies never brought up, but it does showcase this very logic. Racers mostly feel only apathetic towards this, but it's among necessary considerations taken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, because a broken road will only lead to bigger, and far worse motor vehicle incidents.

Rollovers

Most people only hear about them on major curves or turns that really cut sharply, but you'd never guess them to be among the dangers of street racing. While mostly only occurring for SUVs and trucks, rollovers do happen in major speeding cases, especially when racing on damaged streets, or windy roads (like in the mountains).

Young drivers are more prone to be the ones who cause this, but that's no reason to be ignorant of it. If you think it's not something to worry about, check this out: more than 10,000 people are killed in rollover accidents each year. Stop driving like an ass and start diminishing rollovers by not street racing!

Decreased Reaction

Most obvious in concepts under the dangers of street racing is not being able to react in time. It's probably most terrorizing amongst them, for not only will be unable to safely turn through curves, you also won't have any time to dodge that pole or tree coming straight at you.

If you want to stay alive, I'd suggest not getting involved in ammeter drag races and street races, or you'll end up wrapped around a streetlamp. You're also more prone to skid off the road, or flip as discussed previously. Better stay safe and not head out for that Sunday race session with the boys.

Speed Equals Death

I've said it about a million times, and I will say it for the one millionth and first: death is one of the (if not the) worst dangers of street racing. Going at increasing speeds, no matter if you're law enforcement or just racing fast cars, will result in the following occurrences:

First, speeding will cause your car's breaking distance to increase, which means that you'll have four times as far to stop your vehicle, not as many seem to believe twice as long a time. This means that if you're going 55 miles per hour and break, your car has about 6 seconds before it's actually completely ceased moving. In that time, you've travelled well over the length of a football field, around 302 feet to be exact. You will also increase the crash energy by the square of the speeds, which entails the need for 125 percent of managed energy for even a 50 percent increase in miles per hour (say, 40 to 60). Combined with the aforementioned dangers of street racing, it's safe to say that speeding is your (literal) mortal enemy.

Hitting Pedestrians

In my opinion, though, worse than death among dangers of street racing would have to be ramming into an innocent passerby, or several, and causing a major incident in of itself. As I said before with vandalism, street racing attracts some big crowds. If any street racer loses control of the vehicle at any moment, which is most assuredly possible, if not more than likely, chances are you could be blamed for the whole ordeal, even if you were simply watching the event.

This only grows to the nth degree if you're the one driving. With the likelihood of a prison sentence hanging over your head and a life taken, or irreparably broken, said driver would be crushed under the weight of guilt and pain. Don't be an idiot. Don't do something stupid. Just stop street racing altogether, and all said woes will be the drafts you feel gliding through your open window going a reasonable 22 down the street. Ahh, doesn't that feel nice? Let's keep that up.

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About the Creator

Gerald Oppugne

I have no idea why I'm here, but let's make the best of it shall we? I like to drink and smoke, so I'll keep you up to date on those worlds if you like em as much as me.

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