Street racing is never a good idea, particularly when someone winds up dead.
An all too familiar story unfolded a couple nights ago in our back yard. Another night, another bout of street racing, and another casualty. Late Wednesday night, a young driver took to the streets in a black sedan, challenged another car to race. Witnesses told Colorado Springs police the driver was racing the other car down one of the city’s busiest streets when he crashed into a pickup truck at a high rate of speed. The car he was racing fled the scene.
Ultimately, the racer died of his injuries before paramedics made it to the accident. The driver of the truck he hit, fortunately, was not seriously injured. But that’s where the story takes another turn. The street racers haven’t been formally identified by police – as they’re conducting an investigation – but the family of the racer who lost his life told KKTV 11 News that he was 23 and going to school for electrical engineering. They said he was an car enthusiast and loved racing, but they urged him to keep it to the track. “This was a stupid mistake,” the racer’s father said. “No one should be drag racing.” Police have determined speed was definitely a factor in the crash.
Keep it to the track
We here in the TFL office like driving fast. The experience of speed is one of the best parts of being a car enthusiast. We love drag races, hot laps, and generally just hooning around in awesomely powerful cars. But here’s the thing: public roads are not the place and time to indulge your need for speed. This was the fourteenth traffic fatality in Colorado Springs this year, according to police. The state of Colorado experienced a 16% jump in traffic fatalities over the past two years, and while all of them aren’t down to street racing, even one death is too many.
As the police say – and we completely agree – keep it to the track. You may be surprised just how close one may be to where you live. However, keep it off the public roads, because it’s not just your life at stake.
