StreetFiterz

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mwerner

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Apr 23, 2002
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Or something like that; a group of motorcycle "stunt riders" who work the local highways. They are fond of pulling stunts like prolonged wheelies, nose wheelies, skids and slides, and various other things that would generally be classified under statute as "careless and reckless driving".

These lads have accumulated some 80 citations over the last couple of years from various enforcement agencies. They have also produced a video of their exploits, for sale in shopping-mall kiosks. In addition, they have some footage popping up in locally-produced music videos.

About two weeks ago, several of these fellows were involved in a fatal accident on one of the local highways. Though not directly involved, they suddenly departed the highway across several lanes, which caused a young driver in an SUV to panic and swerve violently, T-boning another SUV full of people. This vehicle left the roadway and overturned, ejecting and killing several victims.

An article in the local paper this morning was rather tolerant of these idiots, to my way of thinking, wondering about "freedom of expression" and such nonsense.
It's my opinion that the only place for all such street racers, stunters, or whatever is in jail. They have no regard for the law, and no regard for the safety of their fellow human beings. If they could indulge their activities on closed courses, where they would be the only ones to die, I'd be all for it.
But as soon as you touch wheel to public roadway, you are endangering others.
 
On the first really beautiful saturday of this summer (the day that all the motorcycles return to the road -- you know this day), I was sitting at a stop light with a motorcycle in the lane beside me. This is the last light before you hit a long section of open highway (Highway 99W between Sherwood and Newberg). When the light turned green, this fellow took off like a bullet and, once through the intersection, popped that front wheel up and headed down the highway. He wasn't endangering anyone (except, I guess, himself). And I thought, "What an expression of the joy of a beautiful saturday, what an expression of the joy of life!"
 
A few years ago, Maryland claimed to have a major problem with what they called "road rockets", the very powerful motorcycles being ridden very, very fast along crowded suburban streets. I read that they were regularly clocked on radar at speeds in excess of 80-90 mph. Now, this all assumes that the reports in the media were accurately reporting what the State Police said, that the State Police were accurately reporting the situation on the roads, and that radar was, for once, actually giving an accurate read on the speeds. I have never been able to determine the accuracy of the whole thing, but it was used as justification for a huge crack-down on motorcyclists on a statewide basis.
 
In this case, there's no doubts. The nerds videotape themselves and sell the results to impressionable young lads.

Which of course raises the question of "high performance" vehicles. I love motorsports, and spend quite a lot of time pushing sports cars around various tracks (on my computer....hehe).
But.....What does anyone need with a motorcycle (or any other vehicle, for that matter) that can exceed 150 mph? Is there some defensible rationale for manufacturing and selling such vehicles as "street legal"?

Now, I'm sure this will be an unpopular position, and I suppose that statistically, the owners of Ferraris and Lamborghinis are rather unlikely to be involved in accidents as opposed to say, Ford explorers.
Still, given a high-performance "toy", most will be tempted to play with it now and then.
In Europe, they seem to have a much more organized "sportsman" racing scene than we do here in the States, with a wide variety of both time-trial and head-to-head racing on closed courses. (often closed-off public streets)
 
"But.....What does anyone need with a motorcycle (or any other vehicle, for that matter) that can exceed 150 mph? Is there some defensible rationale for manufacturing and selling such vehicles as "street legal"?"

whoa. Does this line of reasoning sound eerily like those who would take away our 2nd Amendment rights?

"But.....What does anyone need with a gun that can hold more than 6 rounds? Is there some defensible rationale for manufacturing and selling such weapons for "sport"?"

..how about this:

"But.....What does anyone need with a knife longer than 2"? Is there some defensible rationale for manufacturing and selling such weapons for "utility"?"


Punish the outlaws, don't outlaw the object.
 
What amazes me is that for $10k you can go to a dealership and buy a motorcycle that will trounce a Corvette or Viper in the quarter mile. I've talked to many a salesman that has told me that they can't understand how a motorcycle like that is street legal. However, the motorcycle will only go as fast as the rider chooses to make it go. There's no need to outlaw sportbikes, and there's laws against riding at excessive speed and being reckless. It sounds like law enforcement isn't doing all they could to handle this problem . .
 
Now there's a point I'll agree with. Some years ago, I read a science-fiction story to the effect that law enforcement essentially "gives up" on any sort of highway enforcement. This results in the highways becoming populated with heavily armed vehicles who battle each other over the most trivial problems.

There does appear to be a trend in this direction, at least in many areas. There has been a tendency to "decriminalize" traffic offenses, and have them classified as "infractions" rather than misdemeanors. In many large cities, underfunded and undermanned police departments concentrate on street crimes, and give short shrift to traffic enforcement.
This despite the fact that the vehicular death rate far exceeds the number of homicides, and the toll of injuries and property damage is quite large.

I admit to being somewhat ambivalent over high-performance vehicles. Like anyone into motor sports, there's the WOW factor when you see a really great piece of machinery. I remember looking over a Lamborghini at an auto show...V-12 with 3 4-barrell carburetors. (OK, it was a few years ago!)

Still...street "legal" vehicles capable of nearly 200mph? I dunno....
 
Lambos and supercars capable of 200mph+ are rare. It's like banning Holland & Holland 500 Express double rifles because gangbangers might get them. The cars and the H&H cost upwards of $100k, I don't think we have to worry about a flood of them on the streets. :)
Rich car dorks do get into trouble - the Gumball Rally (several videos available) with its $10k entry fee sends caravans of supercars across countries. The last one was in the middle east, and a Ford Cosworth (a B-class racer, 0-60 in under 4sec) took a spill and was totaled. No bystanders were hurt though.
 
I spent about 8 years on a $3700 motorcycle (Yamaha Seca II) that could tie a Dodge Viper 0-60 (4.4 seconds, according to the magazines). What non-bikers might not appreciate is that even "bargain" bikes like my Yamaha can blow the average car off the road performance-wise. The higher-end bikes, like say CBR600's with literally twice the power of my old Yamaha can do it a little faster, but even the frugal bikes are fast.

Don't demonize the chunk of metal, just apprehend and punish the idiots using it improperly.
 
mwerner said:
Now there's a point I'll agree with. Some years ago, I read a science-fiction story to the effect that law enforcement essentially "gives up" on any sort of highway enforcement. This results in the highways becoming populated with heavily armed vehicles who battle each other over the most trivial problems.

There does appear to be a trend in this direction, at least in many areas. There has been a tendency to "decriminalize" traffic offenses, and have them classified as "infractions" rather than misdemeanors. In many large cities, underfunded and undermanned police departments concentrate on street crimes, and give short shrift to traffic enforcement.
This despite the fact that the vehicular death rate far exceeds the number of homicides, and the toll of injuries and property damage is quite large.

I admit to being somewhat ambivalent over high-performance vehicles. Like anyone into motor sports, there's the WOW factor when you see a really great piece of machinery. I remember looking over a Lamborghini at an auto show...V-12 with 3 4-barrell carburetors. (OK, it was a few years ago!)

Still...street "legal" vehicles capable of nearly 200mph? I dunno....
Click to expand...

I read that one. Guy one the duel but was immediately challenged by several others...
 
I've read that story too. I think it was in a collection of Harlan Ellison's short stories.

Jeremy
 
These guys are all over long island. It annoys me that they never seem to get arrested, but on the other hand, given the choice of a biker cruising around at 90mph or an Explorer cruising around at 90, I'd take the biker. The biker can only really harm himself directly, anyone in a car is going to be far better off if a sportbike hits 'em than if an SUV hits 'em.

Of course, what do you call a motorcyclist driving really fast? An Organ Donor.

Frankly, I find it hard to justify blaming the biker(s) for the accident described above; If you lose control of your vehicle to the point that you collide with another one, you're at fault. Period. I don't care what surprised you, you screwed up.

I've heard that in some jurisdictions, the police aren't allowed to chase bikers at high speed, for safety and just because there's no way a Crown Vic is going to catch a high-end bike. Any LEOs know if this is just an urban myth?
 
Police pursuits in general are getting to be problematic, and many departments forbid them entirely unless it's a high-end crime that also involves ongoing danger to the community. (for instance, fleeing armed robbers)
So many traffic-related pursuits result in severe/fatal accidents that it's felt the liability risk is just too great.

Another officer "of an age" and I were telling war stories to one of our recruits, and came up with the three reasons you used to be able to end a pursuit:

1. The guy stops.

2. You are involved in an accident.

3. You run out of gas. :D
 
I love spertbikes.
Ive got a Yamaha YZF 600 which is pretty dern fast and I aspire to get an R1 which is blisteringly fast.
The YZF weighs 420 pounds and has about 85 horsepower. The R1 has about 150 horsepower and weighs 385 pounds. It will do a quarter mile in about 10 seconds flat and hit an honest 180 mph flat out. DO I need such a thing....Of course not.
Its like being able to afford an F1 car. THere is no way you can approach this level of performance in a car for under $100,000. And any of the Japanese 1000cc Sportbikes can give you this for about $10.000. If you like that sort of thing there is nothing short of hitching a ride in an F-14 that feels like opening one of these bad boys up.

As Gollnick said there are few more joyous things than acting in concert with a powerfull machine to pull a wheelie down an open road. However I strongly dissapprove of stunting in traffic. People can get into accidents just watching you and you give up a fair amount of control in most stunts to perform them.

Yes its true no cop car can touch the performance of a high end sport bike but its not worth your life or someone elses to run. The adrenaline rush from trying to evade police can make it pretty hard to make all the decisions required to safely handle a motorcycle at speed. THese folks should be provided a venue to show off and discouraged from performing in traffic.
Still its the individual's irrisponsibility not the machine which is at fault.
 
JR42 said:
I've read that story too. I think it was in a collection of Harlan Ellison's short stories.

Jeremy
Click to expand...
The Ellison story is "Along the Scenic Route" and another such story is Alan Dean Foster's, "Why Johnny Can't Drive."
Who can forget the Road Warrior? :)
 
to further detour this thread...

the old Rush song "Red Barchetta" (lyrics below) is based on an even older article called "A Nice Morning Drive", published in 1973 in Road & Track, which can be read here:
http://www.fiatbarchetta.com/links/nice.html

"Red Barchetta"

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside
 
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