Maybe a barroom analogy applies here. If you go to a bar, one out in the
country along a two-lane, and you end up getting into a fight - you went to
the bar. You deal with it how you want to as an individual, and that is
that, for the most part. Everybody knows lots of guys go to bars to fight.
You didn't go to Wal-Mart that evening. Now, if some bad-a$$ goes to
Wal-Mart and picks fights with anybody they can find, then the other
individuals around him ought to clean his clock and then call the cops to
haul him away and the government ought to punish him so much he won't ever
do it again cause people don't go to Wal-Mart to fight or risk getting in
fights or be tough or anything like that.
If you are at a stop light, and you want to accelerate to the speed limit as
hard as you can before letting off the gas to cruise normally, even if the
guy next to you does the same thing, it's not THAT big a deal. It is still
A small deal, though, cause if you're in an area with lots of business along
the side where someone could pull out in front of you, then you might be
less able to drive defensively and deal with that incident BECAUSE you were
all excited and getting-on-it just prior. Still, it's only a minor
unnecessary risk you put onto individuals who do not wish to participate in
stop light derbies or their potential consequences.
Now, if you're all alone on an open road with no businesses, driveways or
other intersections, and another guy comes up beside you, and the both of
you decide to get-on-it, and one or both of you screw up, even if it's just
by hitting a deer, and wreck, then no matter what happens, both of the
participants knew what the deal was and voluntarily accepted the risk in
order to have the fun. That's just like how it is at the race track. In
fact, one time my competitor at the race track did spin out and missed the
back corner of my ride before tagging the guard rail. Even if he had tagged
my ride and spun me out too - I went to the race track. I didn't go to
Wal-Mart that night. The barroom analogy here. If there happens to be a
cop along that lonely road who catches two guys getting-on-it, he's gotta
give them some punishment though, cause there is still SOME unnecessary risk
to other people. The punishment ought to fit the risk to society they were
imposing on society though. In this case, that risk is not so great as it
was in the case that started this whole discussion.
In the story that started all this, the willing participants should have
gotten-out-of-it when they came up onto some traffic that was not willing to
participate in the race. That would have been a good rule of thumb for stop
light derbying there. When you come up onto other traffic, or arrive at
places along the road where there are lots of other cars waiting on the side
of the road to pull out, everybody who is racing shuts-it-down so nobody
unwilling to race gets hurt. That sort of follows the foundations upon
which our country was built - a person has the right to the pursuit of life,
liberty and happiness, as long as they're not unduly infringing on their
neighbor.
The mention of passengers changes things again. After you've just re-tuned
your engine, or calibrated your transmission shift points, it is fun to
get-on-it when you're all by yourself on a long straight stretch in between
farm fields along a lonely road with no other cars in sight. If you blow a
tire, or hit a deer, you knew what you were doing when you put the hammer
down, and virtually all of the risk was to yourself. If you have a
passenger, then it is wise to temper your actions. I guess if the passenger
is egging you on, they sort of accept the risks, but, just out of honor, it
would be wise to hold yourself back more than you would if you were by
yourself. It's one thing to risk your own life and limb and personal
property, it's another thing to risk that of another person even if that
other person is a willing participant. The reason is that there could
always be some level of doubt as to whether that other person fully
understands all the risks they're encouraging you to take. They aren't as
familiar with your vehicle as you are, for example.
Mike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:45:41 EST