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Tunnel racers are dicing with death

SPEED freaks taking part in testosterone-fuelled races are becoming a real menace on UK roads.

This is the message from several experts who believe road safety has become a dull subject for the nation's thrill-seeking young men.

Paul Smith, of Safe Speed Campaign, told the WHT that continuing to bombard youngsters with the age-old set of 'dos and don'ts' was the wrong way to approach the subject.

He said: "Road safety messages are a big turn off at the moment.

"We are missing the opportunity to involve them by giving them simplified messages.

"Driving safely is about the continuous management of risk. We are not telling them this, just to obey the rules.

"To make it interesting we must stress it is about skilled and responsible behaviour, about being more effective at avoiding accidents than your mates."

An instructor at the Institute of Advanced Motorists agreed it was very difficult to get young people - especially men - interested in responsible driving.

"These young men have the wrong attitude and choose to get their kicks from driving fast and dangerously," he said.

"They are responsible for a completely disproportionate number of accidents. One solution is for them to enrol on one of our courses but unfortunately they don't think that's sexy.

"It's a difficult problem to solve."

Police ready to act

POLICE chiefs have warned that they will come down hard on drivers caught racing at high speeds on Times Territory's roads.

A spokesman said the force had used internet videos depicting criminal activity as evidence in the past.

He said: "We are aware of the clips.

"This type of conduct is both irresponsible and poses dangers both to the occupants of those vehicles and to other road users and police will take robust action against anyone caught speeding on Hertfordshire's roads."

The WHT asked if the boy-racer problem was becoming worse in the county but the spokesman could not comment.

Film themselves at speeds of 140mph

BOY-RACERS have posted videos on the internet of themselves roaring through Hatfield tunnel at speeds of up to 140mph.

The WHT found one 36-second clip on YouTube which shows the driver of a Ford Fiesta Zetec S filming himself racing a Porsche 911 GT3.

At one point the two sports cars - in lanes one and three - flank another vehicle in lane two at about 115mph.

Another short video shows an unidentified car whistling past a lorry at around 140mph.

The shocking manoeuvres have been slammed as both irresponsible and dangerous by the national Safe Speed Campaign and Herts police.

We spoke to a driving instructor at the Institute of Advanced Motorists to find out how difficult it is to control a car at these speeds.

He said that if a lorry travelling at 56mph - the recommended cruising speed - pulled out in front of a car racing at 140mph, it would need to be more than 300m in front to avoid a collision.

And if the driver of the car tried to turn to avoid the lorry he would be very likely to lose control, he said.

"In principle this speed can be safe if the driver is skilled and there is no traffic on the road," said the instructor.

"But these are probably unskilled drivers and wouldn't be able to cope if a lorry changed lanes suddenly. Other vehicles aren't expecting someone coming up behind them at this speed."

To view the clips visit www.youtube.com and search for 'Hatfield tunnel'.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Or possibly because it's of no visible use to them. Lots of their time and money out of their own pocket for little to no foreseeable gain in their eyes.

Hmm,
I suggest things have changed quite a lot since you were a young lad Paul. have you ever visited some of the estates and retail parks where these kids hang out - they don't think like you and me my friend.

The problem is, they don't want to drive safely, they want to pose in front of their mates. The more risky their behaviour is the better.

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Did you mean 2007 in the title?

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Andrew.

Absolutely. Doesn't time fly?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

That'll be human nature backlashing wildly against the nanny state then...

I don't want to be caught in the crossfire when the inevitable battle starts.

Nope. That'll be young people getting their kicks but going further than the previous generations to do so.
The nanny stae doesn't enter into it, I doubt if many of them have even considered the concept.

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I reckon some people like danger. They like to do dangerous things because it is fun and exciting.
If you say "don't do that, it's dangerous" (or, "you exceeded random number too many times, now it is illegal for you to drive") then they will have the added thrill of the risk of getting caught.

I think it might be good to differentiate between doing something dangerous (like driving sideways around a race track) and doing something which could endanger others.

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Andrew.