7 ms·

Come on with the panic stuff. People have been drag racing forever. I remember going racing with my buddy 20 years ago in his souped-up GT3000. Yes, it's danger

Come on with the panic stuff. People have been drag racing forever. I remember going racing with my buddy 20 years ago in his souped-up GT3000. Yes, it's dangerous and obnoxious. But I highly doubt we're in any sort of epidemic.

casion 4y ago
Eh. I street race, and I've been doing it since the late 90s. I've been in MA, NC, SC, VA, FL, OH, MO, and all around them frequently during that time. It's _way_ easier to find events of some sort now. They're more organized, safer, and the cars are faster. I was fairly well connected back "in the day" and it was a monthly thing at best, with the occasionally drags on someone's street on the weekend. Now I know a handful of people, yet I can find an organized street event twice a week. I've been told it's even more common on the west coast.
- TigeriusKirk 4y ago
  Here in the California central valley sideshows have picked up quite notably in the last five years or so. These aren't really about drag racing, it's more a bunch of cars showing up somewhere to show off and do donuts in some intersection. A lot of injuries from people standing too close to spinning cars, and when the cops show up everyone races off, often causing accidents with complete innocents. California has some new laws against the practice, so I guess we'll see where that goes. https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2022/09/19/governor-signs-law-to-crack-down-on-increasing-street-racing-takeovers-and-sideshows/ https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2022/09/19/governor-signs-...
chroma 4y ago
Traffic fatalities are up 17% over 2019. That’s thousands of extra deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
- NegativeLatency 4y ago
  I don’t think that’s explainable by drag racing though
googlryas 4y ago
Drag racers would find near empty stretches of highways to race on, even going to the lengths of setting up rolling roadblocks. That's different from doing donuts in a crowd of people.

casion 4y ago

Eh. I street race, and I've been doing it since the late 90s. I've been in MA, NC, SC, VA, FL, OH, MO, and all around them frequently during that time. It's _way_ easier to find events of some sort now. They're more organized, safer, and the cars are faster. I was fairly well connected back "in the day" and it was a monthly thing at best, with the occasionally drags on someone's street on the weekend. Now I know a handful of people, yet I can find an organized street event twice a week. I've been told it's even more common on the west coast.

TigeriusKirk 4y ago
Here in the California central valley sideshows have picked up quite notably in the last five years or so. These aren't really about drag racing, it's more a bunch of cars showing up somewhere to show off and do donuts in some intersection. A lot of injuries from people standing too close to spinning cars, and when the cops show up everyone races off, often causing accidents with complete innocents. California has some new laws against the practice, so I guess we'll see where that goes. https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2022/09/19/governor-signs-law-to-crack-down-on-increasing-street-racing-takeovers-and-sideshows/ https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2022/09/19/governor-signs-...

chroma 4y ago

Traffic fatalities are up 17% over 2019. That’s thousands of extra deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...

NegativeLatency 4y ago
I don’t think that’s explainable by drag racing though

googlryas 4y ago

Drag racers would find near empty stretches of highways to race on, even going to the lengths of setting up rolling roadblocks. That's different from doing donuts in a crowd of people.