Weekly Safety Tip

[78F350]

Street Racing

For this weeks safety tip, I'll just link rexcramer's thread:
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/64027-another-reminder-save-racing-track.html

It comes up a few times a year in the forum and almost always gets ugly.

[MARTHA]

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I’m sure my post will be unpopular but me I’m a racer, if you challenge me I’m going to race, thats the way its been for 57 years and its not going to change at this point of my life. Simply put its a risk I’m willing to take. The way I see things is if you try to hang with me down a twisty country lane and you lose control then your life is on your hands, I don’t think I should be held accountable for murder because of a decision you made. Now if I were to kill a child playing in the street or in their front yard then put me in prison for murder I deserve it.

[rexcramer]

Sorry Martha, I am going to take you to task here. You don't get to pick where or when an oily patch on the street pops up. In this case R/R tracks. Gravel, ice, cats, dogs, kids on scooters, wet leaves, etc. This accident happened less than a block south of a high school on the same side of the street. A busy street, smack in the middle of downtown Upland, at 4:30 PM. Fortunately the school lets out at 3:00.

I drove by the crash site again yesterday. The tree probably saved the lives of people in front of the restaurant. Not to mention the front of the restaurant. The store front is +/- 70' from the tree. The dining patio is 20' less. Lets add up the cost of all the emergency personnel that the tax payers have to pay for because somebody 'challenge me' to a race.

In California, we also have laws on the books that convict accomplices, of murder, when someone is killed during the commission of a felony, i.e. bank robbery, home invasion, etc. When caught racing, your car is forfeited. If you happen to cause the injury of someone, it is assault with a deadly weapon. Death comes with the appropriate sentence. It is illegal to be a spectator of a street race in California. Ergo, participating in activities that cause someones death is appropriately charged.

Martha, I mean you no ill will. Risk your life as you see fit. You and I are the same age. I have 11 grand kids. I don't want you, me, or anybody else, to suffer through a loss of a loved one. Thankfully, an old tree kept this carnage from being worse.

'I’m a racer, if you challenge me I’m going to race,' Sadly, this train of thought has cost the life of one 23 year old kid and will seriously handicap the life of his co-racer/felon when they are apprehended.

[MARTHA]

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Yes, you are correct, California is a nanny state. Thank God for Oklahoma!