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What I am advocating is responsible and respectful use of the public roadways. What people do elsewhere is their own business.
I personally feel that exquisitely fast cars promote irresponsible driving behaviors when they are routinely driven on the public roads. My feeling is that those who want the rush of great acceleration, etc., need to fill their desires NOT on public roads, and that those cars belong on raceways and dragstrips.
I have ridden with a number of people with 'hot' converted B's, and every one of them has done some really stupid illegal stuff (speeding, prolonged harsh acceleration, beating other cars off the line from a stoplight, etc). My guess is that folks with these very powerful cars are simply in denial about this topic."
Hmmm...So should there be HP/Weight ratio limits? This sounds an awful lot like the early 70s legislation that killed the muscle car and brought us things like the RB MGB which certainly didn't help MG. Interesting that the EPA and insurance industry were so intent to kill performance cars back then?? Meanwhile the new stuff today would put a big block 69 Camaro to shame. Perhaps they are happy to just adjust the premiums and let things go? Or maybe the performance cars really aren't as big a safety hazard as percieved?
I'm certainly not advocating reckless driving. Wanna know what scares me the most on the highway though? People talking and texting on thier phones, grandpa and grandma tooling around on thier meds without a clue as to where they are. That's what scares me. Someone speeding or driving agressively I can usually spot and stay away from/let them go. A car sailing through a stop sign or making a left into my lane is not as easy to predict.
And don't be fooled that somehow everday cars aren't capable of getting a reckless driver in trouble. The average sedan with a big V6 is no slouch in acceleration or top speed. I visit salvage auction sites daily. The ratio of demolished everyday drivers to high performance cars has to be around 50 to 1. That's not a statistic just my opinion based on what I see. I don't see tons of GTOs or Caddy CTS type V. What I see are Honda Accords, Civics, Minivans, Cobalts and garden variety sedans. And most are predominantly hit in the frt or rear or combination thereof. That tells me most accidents are from someone not paying attention not cause they flew off the road at high speed.
Scot, I'd venture to say that those people you rode with were trying to impress you. Show off thier work so to speak. Probably best to stay out of those type cars in the future. Or perhaps tell them straight out you don't care for a demonstration.
