Street Racing/Aggressive Driving
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I first started out this report hoping to get some juicy stuff on the topic of street racing. I was able to find a couple of good threads spelling out the intricacies of this dangerous sport but found that this topic lacked a strong presence in the newsgroups. I was able to find tons on aggressive driving. In a way this ties into street racing. Street racers are definitely driving aggressivly and endangering others. I did find a lot of "kill stories" on another site's message forum where drivers bragged about their daily competitions and conquests, where they would beat other cars. With these two sites rich in information I set off trying to get at the core of street racing and aggressive driving.
The original comment is in the gray table with a border and the responses that other people made to that one are gray without the border in the Responses to #X section right below it. Not all the responses were included since I only used those that I felt were important to my interests.
Liszt/Deja's Aggressive Driving
Honda-Acura.net's "Kill Stories" forum
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Well, it was bound to happen. Today on my way home from work, I was *just minding my own business*. I was merging onto a highway where the speed limit is 55. My friend was behind me in his ultra-powerful saturn. In my rearview I see 2 cars with their fog lights on approaching very very quickly. One looked like a 99 Cobra and the other one looked like a C5 from the distance. I was about to shit my pants. What a great race that would be. My friend saw this also and started flashing his lights at me, as if to say "go get em!" The only problem is that I'm still cruising at 64 mph and they are getting really close really fast. I look up again and can make them out as a 00 GT and a pre-LS1 Z-28. I'm still going 64 mph and there are 2 cars in front of me, one in each lane, going about 50 mph. Racing in traffic is a no no for me, but apparently not for these cool dudes, the GT leading the way whips around me and cuts off the car in front of me, the Z-28 does the same, except he felt the need to rev his engine as he went by me.
Now after these two cars
ahead of me it was clear road, no traffic. But the two cars in front of me
saw what was going to happen and they stayed side by side, as if blocking
me from passing either of them. By this time the Z-28 and GT were out of
sight racing in the traffic free environment ahead. This would have been
the perfect chance for me to test out the Cobra against the new GT in some
high speed runs. Plus I would like to know how I would do against the LT1.
I was practically running on fumes, so with little gas in the tank I would
be lighter. It would have been a good race. Dangerous, I know, but it was
too tempting. But I didn't and couldn't do it. I'm still looking for that
blue LT1 Z-28 with white racing stripes that used to pick on me on this
same stretch of road when I had the V6 weeniemobile. That will probably be
my next post, he knows my face and I know his car. Revenge is sweet.
Anyways, feel free to flame away. |
I was surprised that the guy didn't get into the race. It seemed like he wanted to, but was discouraged at the fact that he would have been pushing his car home. One scary thing is that safety was not even mentioned in this story. I'm assuming that the speeds here were well excess of 100mph and any mistakes and accidents at those speeds would have caused serious damage to the cars and their drivers, plus innocent bystanders. This next statement was a response to John S' first comment.
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What the hell? What is stopping you from cutting loose? Why didn't you get a Corolla or something? Am I missing something here? |
Another one was
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Agreed, John. I think your demonstration of self-control is commendable. I'm not sure if even *I* would have been able to resist that one! ;-) |
I felt that these two comments represented opposite extreme types of responses. I still didn't get any information about why or why not the race took place. The responses in this thread seemed to be more on the cooperative side. People were giving John S. advice on how to beat the other guy the next time they met. I thought that he just wasn't into it tonight. Maybe he would have on another night, but it just didn't seem like he was emotionally up to the task of a street race. I think that he thought about the consequences whether they were the lack of gas or maybe some unrevealed reason, he made a choice based on his thinking not emotions. If emotions came into play, he might have been in a race that night. I felt that an important thing was that he was getting social support from at least one of the people who responded. If all the responses had been against his decision he might have conformed to the social pressure and given in the next time he was given an opportunity.
Thread: "'00 GT vs. LT1 Z-28 vs. 96 Cobra"
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Man what is the deal??? The day after I
posted my account of the mutual admiration with the yellow early 70's
Corvette...I was driving home from work (rare day I take the Cobra) and a
late model (98 or 99?) Camaro with tags that say "Hot LT-1"
The best part was at one point when he pulled beside me (but mostly ahead of me in the other lane) and the light just ahead of us turned yellow. This is the point where I COULD have stopped for a quick 0-SPEED LIMIT jaunt but I couldn't resist pissing this guy off as much as possible. And yes....quite frankly if he was anywhere near as good a driver as myself he probably would have beaten me anyway as I have no mods and he definitely had at least exhaust mods and quite likely many, many more. So....as he is slightly ahead of me he slams on the brakes when the light turns yellow. I was at the point where I could have very easily stopped for the light, and normally would have...but decided to blow past him (doing like 49 in a 50) just beating the red light. He was practically standing still so it was pretty funny for me and certainly a bit embarassing getting left at the altar for him. The frontage road came next and when he saw me turn he quickly flipped a U-turn and left with his tail between his legs. I hope he got to race a Honda or something at least ;-) Anyway I have no real point to this story other than it's funny how a good looking Cobra can get the Camaro's of the world so incredibly hot and bothered. I'll take it as a compliment! :-) Randy 98 Canary Yellow Cobra Coupe |
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Sadly, however, there are Mustang drivers who pull
the same shit with Camaros, Hondas, Acuras, Eclipses, etc. It's really a
type of sub-moronic foolishness that transcends vehicle brands and serves
only to make performance-car owners (whether they be 4cyl or big V10s) a
bad rap with the rest of the motoring populace. Well... gee, I didn't mean
to get up on my soapbox but apparently it happened anyway. I'll step down
now. :-) |
This guy was trying to say that those who "stoop" to these possibly childish games are giving a bad name to auto enthusiasts all over the world. I would agree with him. There are even Honda and Toyota drivers who do the same. It's not exclusive to followers of one brand to be the culprits.
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When I had my SS, I drove exactly the same as when I now drive our Jeep GC or our '94 Mustang GT. I drove it slow -- meaning either right at the speed limit or a few miles under it if traffic would permit. None of this aggressive testosterone laiden baiting another performance car to race me bullshit. I knew how fast the car was and didn't feel an inadequacy between my legs compelling me to "prove" it to the rest of the world. |
This one, with the line
I knew how fast the car was and didn't feel an inadequacy between my legs
compelling me to "prove" it to the rest of the world, had Freud written all
over it. It seems that beating another is not something that he obsesses
himself with. He feels no need to do this and neither do I. I think that those
who need to prove things in public have huge esteem problems. They just aren't
satisfied with themselves so they need the acknowledgement of others to make
themselves feel better.
I noticed that some people sort of went off subject with comments like
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Well if it was an LT-1 then it should have been older than 98. |
To me, it didn't matter to me what year, make, or model the car was. The main point here is that someone had to win. EVeryone wants to win. There is no teamwork or cooperation here. One wins, the other loses. I think that Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies very well here. The drivers are seeking esteem from others by means of their accomplishments. This will become more evident in the next message. These newsgroups proved to be quite difficult to navigate for me. I had a hard time visualising the topic subjects of each message. To make it worse the participants of them continued to include the text that they were responding to in their own messages. It made it hard to pick out the new content.
Thread: Cobra stalked by a Camaro
Message #3
This next message came from
Honda-Acura.net's page on
"Kill Stories". This page was dedicated to countless stories about drivers
racing others and posting their "Kills" on this page.
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i was on the highway after school at night. i ws just cruising, or should i say speeding. as i approaching closer to my exit, i wanted to change lanes, but nobody let me through. anyway, another moron was tailing my ass. sometimes people can be so dumb, he obviously can see that there was traffic in front of me, not that i'm going slow on purpose. anyway, as he saw his chance, he changed lanes. so, i was mad, and i said let see what that guy have. as i changed lanes fast, i almost hit this car in the lane that i was about to get into. that car honked me, i know i was at fault. the other guy's car exited already by this point. so, i try to pull into the next lane to the right of this car's lane, it also pulled into the lane. so, i got another honk from the car. after that, i can tell the driver was mad as hell. it was right on my tail! at that time, i was mad too, so i said let's go..let's see what you got. i hammer the gas and so did the driver of the other car. it wanted to get back at me. we were well over 90-100mph. weaving through traffic. by doing all of that, i missed my exit. i didn't know what to think. i thought the driver was going to get me. i didn't know if the driver would pull out a gun, or whatever. so i tried to get away from the driver. as i passed another exit, it was on my tail, but several car lengths back. i noticed then it got further and further from me, so i thought the driver perhaps calmed down. so, i took the next available exit, i noticed it was about to follow me to exit, and do who knows what. but then, the driver changed its mind and get back on the highway. as i had to turned back and head home the long way, i thought to myself how stupid i was. it wasn't worth it. and worse, i needed to take a piss badly. man, i didn't know why i did that. i know it was my fault. at first i wanted to say sorry somehow, but i didn't get a look at the driver, so i wasn't sure would the driver be mad enough to take a gun out and do you know what. you can't be so sure nowadays. that was why i hammered it, and tried to get away from that driver. easily, the dumbest thing i ever done. i could have cause a very bad accident. that would not only hurted that driver, but myself as well. we were going quite fast, so if an accident did occurred, it would be a very, very bad scene. *shaking at my head at why i was so dumb*. |
This wasn't a typical kill story but I thought that it was. A good look at what goes through one person's mind during a street race. It seemed that this driver had self-witnessed his actions during this race. He was able to give a good description of his emotions, his thinking and his resulting behaviors in his situation. I would not have been able to keep track of these processes had I not known about self-witnessing skills.
i was mad, and i said let see what that guy have.
i almost hit this car in the lane that i was about to get into. that car honked me, i know i was at fault.
From these comments the driver was able to label his emotions and was able to recognize responsibility of fault in his actions.
it (the other driver/car) wanted to get back at me. i noticed then it got further and further from me, so i thought the driver perhaps calmed down. I thought that he was so well in tune with the cognitive processes he even guesses the thoughts of the other driver. I thought that this was key because now it is eveident that his actions are being affected by the other driver's supposed thoughts.
i thought the driver was going to get me. i didn't know if the driver would pull out a gun, or whatever. so i tried to get away from the driver.
This was another example of the cognitive processes that this driver was going through. He even seemed to identify the cause of his action of "getting away". He thought that he would have been injured by a "gun or whatever".
That was why i hammered it, and tried to get away from that driver. easily, the dumbest thing i ever done. i could have cause a very bad accident. that would not only hurted that driver, but myself as well. we were going quite fast, so if an accident did occurred, it would be a very, very bad scene. *shaking at my head at why i was so dumb*.
This last paragraph probably the most promising comments that this driver made. He acknowledges that what he did was very dangerous and that people could have gotten hurt. I think that the most important thing is that from his cognitive processes he understands the consequences and that his actions are directly linked to them. It seems that in the end he will change his behavior and think again about racing on the streets. However it is up to him to follow his words and with the appropriate actions.
After reading through these newsgroups I found that when you search for a particular topic, you don't necessarily get exactly what you're looking for. When I searched for street racing, I was given newsgroups with text that had the words "street" and "racing" in them, just like search engines. If there is a way to get around this I need to ask someone real soon.
I was also surprised at the responses that people have for each other. They may range from the supportive types to those that insult people. I noticed that the majority of the responses brought attention to themselves as well as addressing the comment. For example one person would comment on their experience and the respondent would say how he could have done it better. There was a lot of that going on. This is why I thought that these "Kill Stories" did nothing but make the drivers feel better about themselves. They needed to show off to others how fast/crazy they are and I still don't see any point in that except to increase their own self esteem. Those who responded to the comments by saying that they could do it better or faster were also adding to their own self esteem. Perhaps that they realize the common behavior of increasing one's self esteem and they may be trying to hurt and bring down someone else.
This type of message forum leads to some interesting interactions. Most of the time people in these newsgroups are blunt to each other and don't hold anything back. This type of interaction in a relationship is usually reserved for those who have established a strong foundation of a relationship. This is because people want to be socially accepted by those that they interact with regularly. This may not necessarily be true in this case. Because the participants in these newsgroups will probably never meet, they don't need to worry about being socially accepted and liked. They can say what they please and have almost no sanctions against them. This is why I think that discussions in newsgroups tend to be blunt and many times offensive.