Need for Speed

Illegal speed racing inspired by Hollywood has created a dangerous epidemic among many. Movies have an impact on us because they are mainly fueled on the glory of danger; an example of this would be illegal street racing. Movies like “The Fast and the Furious” has now become more of a reality for people in the United States of an everyday occurrence. Many enjoy the thrill of speed racing because of the adrenalin rush it creates is undesirable. According to a nationwide study, statistics show that forty-nine people out of every one thousand are injured who find themselves participate in illegal street racing. It is also known The Insurance of Highway Safety says 5,749 teens died in the United States from car and motor cycle accidents.


Innocent people are known to die from street racing as well. Cars involved in illegal street races are often issued equipment violation citation. Police are known to arrest offenders under the laws covering reckless operation and endangerment. The law says your car will be immediately confiscated and will face prison time up to three months and receive a one thousand dollar fine. Spectators are subject to lesser penalties as well.

To prevent illegal street racing some police stations are establishing an illegal street force team who will target the hot spots of the racing criminals. Along with that police are also providing alternative things for youth to do instead of putting their and other lives in danger. Along with this road safety education in schools.

For those who want to participate in street racing, an association for people who want to race so they can do it legally. The association is called NHRA and it helps street racing get off the major roads and become safe and effective. NHRA stands for National Hot Rod Association in which was founded in 1951 by a man of the name Wally Parks. The National Hot Rod Association put focus on the development of short distance acceleration. This association was initially a car club activity program but is now dedicated to safety. The initial goal for the future is to help overcome the problem of illegal street racing. The safety programs like this and others ones will help to keep everyone safe.

"Click it...Or Ticket"

What people don’t realize is the choice their making when they drive without a seat belt wrapped around them every time they enter an automobile. Over the years government has sponsored multi-million dollar safety seat belt awareness campaigns for people in the United States. The usage has climbed over time, but recently over the past few years, it has become a must. Along some of the slogans the government has come up with is buckle up for safety, seat belts save lives, and buckle up America; it is easy to recognize at least one of these popular slogans.


One of the most popular slogans of all though would have to be “Click it…Or Ticket.” This slogan was the latest national seat belt campaign and had a starting advertising budget of an astonishing $25 million that was paid in full by the United States Government. According to statistics this slogan that came out in May of 2003 became successful. In 2004 safety belt usage increased to almost 80% up from the percentage of 58 in 1994. It was proven with just a 10% higher additional increase in safety belts could have saved an estimated 8,000 more lives per year and could also help by preventing more than 100,000 traffic related accident injuries.

It all comes down to the decision of the people rather or not to use a seatbelt. The choice should come to people more simply than it does. If you wear a seat belt it significantly increases the chance of a person surviving a car accident. It is true that the car accidents are the primary cause of death among people from the age of 4 to 34 years of age. So as you made of heard before it is your choice, your money, your life.

Just keep flying, just keep flying

Is there ever a time that you need to be somewhere but you do not want to drive to get there? With all the hassle of driving to get to where you have to be can be a pain in the booty. Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to just fly to avoid all troubles. As I was reading an article the other day about bad driving on the internet I was surprised to find out that there was a study done by The University of California that actually says they might have discovered a gene that contributes to people driving like morons. Does this mean that we should cut bad drivers some slack? Maybe this means that everyone should require genetic testing before they are allowed to issue a driver's license. If they fail this test should they be allowed to drive, including me? Or when people fail this should we just have a special handicap sticker to hang from their rear-view mirrors. Maybe we could lend them access to their own lanes to make them less dangerous and feel more important.


I have come up with the same fact that bad drivers are simply just people who habit forces other drivers to adjust to their driving. By this I mean next time you accuse another driver of being bad, stop and think about the times you’ve forced someone to adjust to your driving. Although this may be different to popular opinion, practice doesn’t make perfect. Only perfect practices makes perfect. This meaning if you practice driving the wrong way, then you will only learn the wrong was verse learning the right way to do it.

Would all this be solve with simply more practice, taking bad drivers off the road? What will be the solution?