Boy Racers

_feedback_

From another thread in here , it's very true. Would more accurate reporting of 'boy racer' crashes as a result of racing on secondary roads have any impact on reducing road death tolls?

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Some of them are but once again are not reported as such.

Media reporting on road accidents leaves a lot to be desired too.

Each report should contain details of
- Speed at impact of collision
- Seatbelt status
- Blood alcohol level
- Likely cause of accident
- If the driver is underage / does not have a full licence or has taken the car without permission then this should be highlighted

If this information is not immediately available it should be reported when it does come to light.

Something all the lines of

'That fatal crash we reported one month ago. Results have shown that the driver, Mr X of [address] was four times over the limit.'

That might help prevent subsequent accidents.

But it won't happen.

Why?

Because once again, we are afraid of 'upsetting the families'. :rolleyes:

I agree with you 100%. I'm originally from a rural area in the Midlands, over the easter a young guy died in a single vehicle crash. I know for a fact he was speeding and fitted in to the 'boy racer' category you spoke about. It was reported as tragic etc and still they won't point out the facts to highlight the problem. A couple of years ago a schoolboy (17 or so) died as a result of a head on crash. He was 'racing' with fellow 'boy racers' on a stretch of road that has been classed as one of the most dangerous in the country. Again, it was reported as a tragic accident. The facts should be reported. muppets who kill themselves on the roads... are just that... muppets. good riddance.

sonners

I agree that road deaths should be more accurately reported, although I'm not thinking solely about 'boy racers' (I hate that term). When a pedestrian is knocked down and killed I would like to know:

-what the visibility was like (foggy, raining, dark)
-speed of the car
-was the pedestrain wearing high visibility clothing
-what their blood-alcohol levels were
-possibly their position on the road.

I think there's a big difference between a pedestrian being killed whilst crossing a zebra crossing in broad daylight and being killed walking home from a pub, on a country lane, with dark clothes on, quite possibly drunk at 2 in the morning.

ScumLord

Most chrashes I see on the news seem to be on a straight bit of road and seem to be caused by someone cutting it too close when over taking as there all head on colisions. Irish roads aren't designed for slow drivers, you come across one and you could be held up for the rest of your journey this can be absolutely infuriating. There are people out there that think driving slow means driving safe and that's not true at all I had a freind killed by pure incompitence. The driver was doing 30 and just not paying attention, how he didn't see him I'll never know but he got off with it, one of the perks of being an ex cop I suppose. These are the same kind of driver that will hover around 45-50 on main roads and not slow down going through towns.

I don't think the news is going to go into great detail on crashes, with there being so many of them but rte could do a prime time report into the real causes of acidents.

elviscostello wrote:

The facts should be reported. muppets who kill themselves on the roads... are just that... muppets. good riddance.

Good riddance?! Maybe you should go up to the family of someone who's lost a son and see what reaction you get for comments like that.

DarkJager

The media should stop calling boy racer crashes tragic. These mindless pricks know exactly what they are doing. Maybe the term "Muppet Suicide" would be better used?

sonners

I agree with you wholeheartedly there scumLord. In my opinion Boy Racers are a problem, But they are NOT the only problem. There are so many driver niches these days, everybody seems to be blaming somebody else. We have:

-slow drivers
-fast drivers
-boy racers
-big car drivers (SUV's, BMW's, etc)
-young drivers
-drink drivers

I could quite easily come up with compelling arguments to blame any of these categories for ALL the deaths on our roads and could probably find statictics somewhere to back up these arguements. I'm sick of all this arguing and blaming.

Every driver on the road is RESPONSIBLE and the sooner people realise that the sooner these tragedies can become a thing of the past.

DarkJager

But boy racers are the only ones that cause crashes by trying to show off in their cars...

sonners

I've seen middle-aged men in their forties showing off in their five series BMW's aswell. Only difference is that the driver of a five series is alot safer than the driver of a punto....even if he's just as stupid.

Country-Bumpkin

sonners wrote:

I've seen middle-aged men in their forties showing off in their five series BMW's aswell. Only difference is that the driver of a five series is alot safer than the driver of a punto....even if he's just as stupid.

This is so true, I have a neighbour who gets into his car & speeds off down our small, bumpy country road with potentially loads of children on it. Hes just as bad as the "Boy Racers" but I also think that it really needs to be addressed by the media.

Speed, Blood Alcohol, Any major hazards or interferences that happened all need to be mentioned. It would probably work a lot better than just the bare statistics in the Sunday Papers.

Archeron

Yesterday I stopped at a set of temporary lights on some road works in Co Meath. I stopped, and was at the head of the lights, and I seen about 10 cars had gone through the red in front of me.
When I stopped, I got blasted out of it by the car behind me, who didnt think I was going to stop (sure its only a red light after all), and had to swerve to avoid hitting me. 35 vehicles (yes I counted them) then overtook me as I sat at a red light and they all went straight against the lights. I should point out that these road works are on a very steep hill, with no visibility and a really poor quality road to drive on. These 35 idiots would have included pretty much every subset of driver in the country so waggling the finger at one group and making statements like some of those above is IMO moronic.
EVERYBODY in this country needs to cop the f*ck on on our roads and accept personal responsibility, instead of thinking that getting boy racers off the road will make everything better. I dont care if someone drives a souped up punto, a top class merc, a muck truck, a taxi or a van, I've seen them all do the most idiotic things imaginable on our roads, and I would guess that many people have. . Sometimes I'm surprised the death toll on our roads is not actually much higher.
And to the OP, Good riddance? My God, would you listen to yourself for a moment.....Yes, we should hear all the facts but your closing statement in that post is frankly unbelievable.

gyppo

Archeron wrote:

EVERYBODY in this country needs to cop the f*ck on on our roads and accept personal responsibility, instead of thinking that getting boy racers off the road will make everything better. I dont care if someone drives a souped up punto, a top class merc, a muck truck, a taxi or a van, I've seen them all do the most idiotic things imaginable on our roads, and I would guess that many people have. . Sometimes I'm surprised the death toll on our roads is not actually much higher.
And to the OP, Good riddance? My God, would you listen to yourself for a moment.....Yes, we should hear all the facts but your closing statement in that post is frankly unbelievable.

Completely agree with everything you said there.

_feedback_

Archeron wrote:

EVERYBODY in this country needs to cop the f*ck on on our roads and accept personal responsibility, instead of thinking that getting boy racers off the road will make everything better. I dont care if someone drives a souped up punto, a top class merc, a muck truck, a taxi or a van, I've seen them all do the most idiotic things imaginable on our roads, and I would guess that many people have. . Sometimes I'm surprised the death toll on our roads is not actually much higher.

You hit the nail on the head most certainly with that Archeron, I drive about 300 miles a week to and from work, on what would be classed as dangerous roads.. To quote you again Archeron, the amount of moronic behaviour is unreal. Fair enough, there’s fools in BMW’s with the foot to the floor, and drivers being over cautious. But what really annoys me about boy racer (choose another term if you like!!) halfwits is the aggression in their driving. Similar to your experience at the road work stoppage. On numberous occasions going through 50kmh speed limits I’ve been overtaken at speed by one of these fools and only yesterday I was again going through 50kmh area and one of these fools in a Honda civic was stuck up me arse (in very wet conditions yesterday) the whole way through the village. Say what you like about some guy in a new BMW… but I’ve never seen any of them doing something like that.

Archeron wrote:

And to the OP, Good riddance? My God, would you listen to yourself for a moment.....Yes, we should hear all the facts but your closing statement in that post is frankly unbelievable.

A couple of people took that comment very strongly. My point is, if you’re prepared to go out and race on a main road and kill yourself by driving in to an ESB pole. Tough s**t. Good riddance. Similar to if you are prepared to rob old ladies handbags and you get caught and sent to prison. Tough s**t. Good riddance.

sonners

I cant say I've seen anybody in a new BMW doing what you've described Elvis but I have no doubt in my mind that it could happen. When I'm on the road I view ALL other drivers as dangerous. Whether its the little old lady in the Micra, the builders in the transit or the Boy Racers in the civic, their actions could quite easily result in my death. Just like my actions could quite easily result in their death. We are ALL responsible.

What gets to me is hearing TD's and Gardai going on about Boy Racers and their 'Killing machines'....every car on the road is a 'Killing machine' incase nobody has noticed. The roads are full of ignorant, arrogant and inconsiderate drivers from all age-groups, sexes and backgrounds and in all sorts of vehicle.

The sooner we focus on curbing this behaviour as opposed to finding a scapegoat we all agree on the better.

Keith C

Can someone define exactly what a boy racer is??
Is it their driving stlye or the car their driving??
& what age is the boy racer category??

Fighting Irish

Keith C wrote:

Can someone define exactly what a boy racer is??
Is it their driving stlye or the car their driving??
& what age is the boy racer category??

young people that act the muppet when driving on a public road

Judt

More than just boy racers cause accidents, but they hardly help the situation. I think the key would be accurate media reporting. Basically you hear "Six people have been killed this weekend in road accidents." End of report. No context, no nothing. It's as if Irish cars just magically run themselves into walls.

_feedback_

Keith C wrote:

Can someone define exactly what a boy racer is??
Is it their driving stlye or the car their driving??
& what age is the boy racer category??

wikipedia wrote:

Boy racer is a colloquial term for a person, usually a male in his late teens or early twenties, who drives his car in an intimidating or dangerous way for fun. Their cars are most often regular models customised with spoilers, wide tires, flared fenders and go-faster stripes.

A lot more on that page here! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_racer

Wishbone Ash

elviscostello wrote:

on what would be classed as dangerous roads

elvis - It's the drivers that are dangerous, not the roads.

layke

Disagree Ash, i've seen some damn ropey roads in this country.

If anything I would say it's both the roads and the drivers. However to make a point, more fatal accidents happen in the country now then the capital which I believe is road related (poor lighting, dangerous bends, poor road surface etc).

Lorax

sonners wrote:

We have:

-slow drivers
-fast drivers
-boy racers
-big car drivers (SUV's, BMW's, etc)
-young drivers
-drink drivers

-women drivers

DarkJager wrote:

But boy racers are the only ones that cause crashes by trying to show off in their cars...

Are you incredibly stupid or just ignorant? Yeah they cause crashes, but to say they are the "only ones" who cause crashes ? Right..

blow69

Keith C wrote:

Can someone define exactly what a boy racer is??
Is it their driving stlye or the car their driving??
& what age is the boy racer category??

1.School dropouts that are incoherent at best.
2.People that circle around their local town constantly like a goldfish in it's bowl(mainly when the sun goes down.That's when they have their "fun")
3.People that pick up 14 year old girls and take a "drive" into the country.
4.People that,for some unexplained reason,line up their cars next to eachother at petrol stations to listen to some tooooones(tunes(music)) and do a little snifter of coke.
5They are best described as a cross between a scumbag and a culchie.
6.People who invest thousands of euro towards their cars and then drive at unrecommended speeds on narrow,rural roads where there is a good chance that they will total their expensive cars/kill themselves.
7.People that think they are 100% invincible on our roads.

That,my friend,is an accurate definition of a boy racer!

Binomate

blow69 wrote:

1.School dropouts that are incoherent at best.
2.People that circle around their local town constantly like a goldfish in it's bowl(mainly when the sun goes down.That's when they have their "fun")
3.People that pick up 14 year old girls and take a "drive" into the country.
4.People that,for some unexplained reason,line up their cars next to eachother at petrol stations to listen to some tooooones(tunes(music)) and do a little snifter of coke.
5They are best described as a cross between a scumbag and a culchie.
6.People who invest thousands of euro towards their cars and then drive at unrecommended speeds on narrow,rural roads where there is a good chance that they will total their expensive cars/kill themselves.
7.People that think they are 100% invincible on our roads.

That,my friend,is an accurate definition of a boy racer!

I sense envy.

Turkilton

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1295646208

InFront

The guys in that flash-box need a sport or responsible parents or a girlfriend or something

Rb

Binomate wrote:

I sense envy.

I sense downsyndrome, providing they actually believe that description is "accurate".

InFront wrote:

The guys in that flash-box need a sport or responsible parents or a girlfriend or something

I was waiting for something to happen the guys hanging out the car windows...sadly it never came

blow69

rb_ie wrote:

I sense downsyndrome, providing they actually believe that description is "accurate".

Obviously I don't see that as an accurate definition.But you have to admit some of those traits are true such as driving around a town non-stop and groups parking up at petrol stations.It's hardly good for the enviroment or for the unfortunate 14 year olds!

One day, last year, I was crossing the road at a junction near the apartment I was living in at the time. It was late, about 12, and the place was pretty much empty. So, I had almost crossed the road when some muppet in some sh!tty car does a handbreak turn at full speed around the corner. He narrowly misses me by inches, and was traveling at such speed that you can tell he had almost lost control as you could see the car wobbling a lot. He had some friends with him in the car.

Had he not missed me, then the stupid idiot had put himself, me, his friends and people in the downstairs apartments (as it had been close enough to them) at risk.

looksee

rb_ie wrote:

I sense downsyndrome, providing they actually believe that description is "accurate".

How can there possibly be any connection between Downs syndrome and any of the descriptions. That is as pathetic as using spastic as a term of abuse.

Rb

looksee wrote:

How can there possibly be any connection between Downs syndrome and any of the descriptions. That is as pathetic as using spastic as a term of abuse.

I'm sensing even more down syndrome now.

The gaurds won't release specific accident details for legal reasons

nlgbbbblth

ronoc wrote:

The gaurds won't release specific accident details for legal reasons

what legal reasons?

if the details are correct / accurate and there is evidence to back them up, then what's the issue?

afatbollix

blow69 wrote:

1.School dropouts that are incoherent at best.
2.People that circle around their local town constantly like a goldfish in it's bowl(mainly when the sun goes down.That's when they have their "fun")
3.People that pick up 14 year old girls and take a "drive" into the country.
4.People that,for some unexplained reason,line up their cars next to eachother at petrol stations to listen to some tooooones(tunes(music)) and do a little snifter of coke.
5They are best described as a cross between a scumbag and a culchie.
6.People who invest thousands of euro towards their cars and then drive at unrecommended speeds on narrow,rural roads where there is a good chance that they will total their expensive cars/kill themselves.
7.People that think they are 100% invincible on our roads.

That,my friend,is an accurate definition of a boy racer!

deffo... i was in swinford a few weeks ago shooting a mocumentry and we needed a boy racer car.. so we found them in teh local petrol station with the 14 year old girls and teh tuuuunnneesss after they saw our big camera the calls went out and with in 10 mins a cruze had started... scary stuff about 20 cars all done up and twats driving doing laps around a town... and heading to the bypass for races....

anyone going to killarney next weekend better watch out they will be there in there 1000s... i was there last year and they were blocking the centre of the town at 3am because of there lapping..... and kept me awake all fecking night...

_feedback_

ronoc wrote:

The gaurds won't release specific accident details for legal reasons

what legal reasons?

Rovi

elviscostello wrote:

what legal reasons?

This is pure speculation on my part, but inquiries/prosecutions/court cases can go on for months (and even years), so I'd imagine that they can't go releasing information that is sub judice.

cooperguy

anto-t wrote:

deffo... i was in swinford a few weeks ago shooting a mocumentry and we needed a boy racer car.. so we found them in teh local petrol station with the 14 year old girls and teh tuuuunnneesss after they saw our big camera the calls went out and with in 10 mins a cruze had started... scary stuff about 20 cars all done up and twats driving doing laps around a town... and heading to the bypass for races....

anyone going to killarney next weekend better watch out they will be there in there 1000s... i was there last year and they were blocking the centre of the town at 3am because of there lapping..... and kept me awake all fecking night...

Ya I was in Kilarney last year and im heading down for the rally again next year. The only problem with the great craic that is down there for the rally of the lakes is the Muppet to Normal People Ratio.

Tho there is a plus side to it some of the cars are so ridiculosly done up its like a rally and comedy festival built into one

Duff

''If in doubt, Diff her out'':D