Put hammer down on street racing
One of two cars that crashed after a 140-mph race on the Long Island Expressway on March 3 in Islandia. Credit: Michael Zaleski
Boys will be boys, but they're endangering themselves and others with their toys, and it's nothing new.
An incident in which two drivers who had been racing at 140 mph on the Long Island Expressway ended in separate crashes caught the public's attention last week, although no one was seriously hurt. In the past decade at least five deaths were attributed to street racing on Long Island.
Street-racing tempts young men, unconvinced of their own immortality, unconcerned with the danger to others and unable to imagine horrific outcomes.
It's a tradition immortalized by movies like "American Graffiti," "Grease" and the "Fast & Furious" franchise. The girls scream and the boys swagger up a testosterone stew.
Street racing, while not as much of a day-to-day problem as drunken driving or driving while texting, is totally unacceptable. If you drag-race on a public street, you're committing a deadly act. Whether you become a killer depends only on whether a victim appears in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No one should tolerate street racing. Law enforcement has gotten more serious about it and that should continue, with jail sentences and car confiscations when appropriate.
Boys will always be boys, but ideally they'll survive to become men - with no victims attached to their names or their consciences.
