Road Racing and AI Autonomous Cars: Fast & Furious Contentions

When I was in college, a friend of mine had a “hotrod” car that he doted over and treated with loving tender care. One day, we were at a red light and another souped-up car pulled alongside of us. For a moment, I almost thought I was in a James Dean movie, which was well-before my time, I might add, but in any case, it is generally well-known here in California that James Dean died when driving his Porsche at high speeds and ran into a Ford Tudor at an intersection in Cholame, California.

My friend glanced over at the other driver and made one of those kinds of glances that says “my car is better than your car” kind of message. The other driver looked back, slowly nodded his head as though saying prove it, and the next things I knew the engines of both cars were being revved up. There I was, sitting in the front passenger seat of my friends racing-like car and apparently, I was about to become entrenched in a road race, also sometimes called a street race.

You might find of idle interest that in Los Angeles alone there are about 700 illegal and completely unsanctioned road races each year (that’s based on the latest stats collected in 2017). In some cases the road race starts just as my situation in college wherein one car driver challenges another car driver on a spur of the moment basis. In today’s world, the use of social media has allowed illegal road races to become much larger and semi-organized affairs. There are social media sites that you can post your intent to engage in an illegal road race and it will give a heads-up for people that want to come and watch or perhaps directly participate.

If you are under the assumption that only the drivers would be facing the chance of going to jail for breaking the law by undertaking an illegal road race, you might want to know that bystanders can also be arrested. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) here in California, anyone that aids in a speed contest, including those that are merely viewing it, observing it, watching it, or witnessing it, they too are violated the Speed Contest law (speed contest is another name given to the illegal road races).

In California, if convicted of participating in a speed race, you can be imprisoned for up to three months, which encompasses those doing the street racing and those “aiding or abetting” a street race. Plus, you can be fined up to $1,000, have your car impounded, and have your driver’s license revoked. I remember one such illegal road race here in Los Angeles that the police broke-up and arrested 109 people. That’s right, over one hundred people were busted for participating, of which only a small fraction of those people was actually racing a car.

Getting back to my situation in my college days, I knew at the time that my being a passenger in a racing car would do little to prevent me from potentially being arrested, assuming that we got caught. Of the things that I might get arrested for, it did not seem like being involved in a speed contest was one of the worthy reasons (I’m not going to list what reasons would be worthy, sorry). I knew that my college buddy would consider me “a chicken” if I tried to prevent the road race from occurring.

Which was more important, the off-chance that I might get arrested for participating in an illegal road race, or being called a chicken by my friend and perhaps word spreading that I was a party pooper when it came to doing a speed contest?

Dangers of Unsanctioned Road Racing

Before I answer the question and tell you what I did, let’s also consider some of the other reasons why participating in an illegal road race is a bad idea. The most obvious perhaps is that you can get injured or killed. It is relatively common that when a road race occurs, inevitably someone spins out of control or somehow loses control of their racing car and hits someone or something. Another racing car might get hit. Bystanders might get hit. Innocent pedestrians that had nothing to do with the road race might get hit. Other cars that had nothing to do with the road race might get hit.

In fact, one particular criticism of these illegal road races is that the drivers are often not skilled in driving a car at high-speeds and in a racing manner. These amateurs are wanna-be high-speed race drivers. They are cocky and think they can drive fast, when in reality they lack the skills and demeanor to do so properly. If they really were serious about wanting to race cars, they’d do so on a closed track in a sanctioned manner.

In proper and legal road racing on a closed track, the cars themselves are also specially prepared for sanctioned road racing purposes. These cars are outfitted with safety gear meant to protect the driver of the car. The cars might be augmented with special NOS (Nitrous Oxide System) capabilities to allow for the boosting of speed via increasing the power output of the engine. There might be special tires with extra thick tread. For the illegal road races, it is a wild west of however the racing car shows-up. It might be completely done up in a flimsy manner, and there have been many instances of these cars exploding by their own means.

Another factor to keep in mind is that a sanctioned road race on a closed track is going to presumably have a proper roadway set aside for a race. The road surface is likely well prepared for a race. When the illegal road races occur, they do so wherever they can find a place to do the race. This can include quiet neighborhoods that have families and children and pets, all of which might inadvertently get dragged into or run over by the road racers. The street itself will likely get torn up by the racing cars. If the road racers lose control of their cars, they can damage property such as light poles, fences, and so on.

Sometimes the illegal road races tempt fate in additional ways. For example, a so-called Potts Race involves the racing cars trying to drive through a multitude of successive intersections and the “loser” is the first racing car that comes to a stop at a red lighted traffic signal (the phrase of “Potts” comes from the aspect that these kinds of races were quite popular in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in the 1980s). You can imagine that other cars not involved in the road racing are all at risk of either getting struck by these maniac racers or those innocent and unaware drivers might accidentally run into one of the racing cars. A recipe for disaster, either way.

To further bolster the case for not doing illegal road races, I’ll mention too that often times drinking or drugs accompanies these underground events. The drivers might opt to get themselves jacked-up for the racing and the participants might do the same. Obviously, this adds to the chances that something untoward will arise. The police also point out that often there is illegal betting that takes place, and these races are ways for gangs to congregate and add to their ranks. Plus, the gangs will at times decide to after the race perform other illegal acts, and especially if they are already “lit” after drinking and taking drugs.

I’ll mention another factor that I’ve seen many times about these illegal road races, and I’m not sure how much it also contributes to the negative aspects of road races. I’ll see a bunch of similar souped-up cars all going along on the freeway or a highway, likely heading to an illegal road race. They try to stick together and thus it is apparent that they somehow are linked with each other. This would not be problematic except that they often want to do a kind of mini-race before the “real” race that they are heading to.

Thus, on the freeway or highway, they will each try to outdo each other. If there are other cars around them that are somewhat blocking their progress, they often delight in zipping around those cars. They tend to cut into and out of traffic, doing so without regard for the other drivers. They have turned the normal freeway or highway into a game for them to play, while on their way to the race. I’ve seen many close calls of them ramming into other cars.

In that sense, those driving to and presumably later on driving from an illegal road race are potentially menaces to the normal driving conditions. They are eager to showcase their own prowess. They want to do their own pretend car racing. I wonder how many car accidents happen due to this tomfoolery and horseplay that they do. I’d wager that besides the potential for injuries, deaths, and damages while an actual road race happens, there is some similar kind of likelihood for untoward results either just before or just after the road race occurs.

Why do these presumably licensed drivers do this? As mentioned, it can be gang-related. It can also be out of boredom or having nothing else to do. It can be due to a bet or challenge to someone else. It can be as a result of a kind of pride of their own car and a desire to show-off what they have. There is a sub-culture aspect often to illegal road races, involving those that perhaps in-their-hearts love cars and racing, and maybe also like the idea of going to the edge. Some relish the lawbreaking aspects, even though they would assert that it is not much of an illegal act.

I’ve heard some of these illegal road racers claim that it is unfair to stop them from their efforts. They aren’t hurting anyone, they’ll avow. They are just having a good time. Don’t the police have better things to do such as busting “real criminals” is another refrain. Given the lengthy list of dangers and downfalls of illegal road racing, I have little sympathy for such pleas. If you want to road race, do so legally and go to the right places, using the right equipment, in the right manner, would be some potential advice.

Large and Miniature Moments of Road Racing In Our Lives

Now that I’ve covered some of the background about these illegal road races, let’s get back to my personal dilemma while I was in college. As mentioned, I was sitting in my friend’s car, and he was making a silent but clear-cut challenge to a car driver next to us, and they were both now revving their engines. An illegal road race was imminent.

Do I participate as a passive passenger, which nonetheless means I’ve actively been involved in an illegal act, subject to prison time and other criminal penalties due to aiding and abetting? Or, do I “chicken out” and insist to my friend that we not compete, but this will surely have him tout to the world that I backed-out and I didn’t have “the guts” to do a road race.

Imagine though that we do the illegal road race and the car hits a tree, or the car rolls over and there isn’t a roll cage to protect us? Or, suppose the other car crashes and they die because we played this game? Maybe we all hit other innocent cars that happen to be in the road ahead. Perhaps by dumb-luck there is a police car that catches us, and I end-up with a police record that follows me the rest of my life? All of those aspects had to be weighed against the being-a-wimp outcome.

When you are in college, these things matter, though upon reflection now it is kind of obvious to me which was the right answer.

Assuming you are on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happened, I sheepishly admit that before I could take any action, the light turned green and the other car went ahead at a breakneck speed, tires squealing and burning rubber could be smelled. My friend, giving me a big grin, merely proceeded ahead at a normal driving pace. He had tricked the other driver. For him, he told me that it would have been a waste of his precious car’s assets to race against some idiot that happened to be at an intersection during a red light with him.

Of course, that’s not the only moment in my life involving the notion of road racing.

Indeed, I would suggest that we all have our own miniature moments of road racing during our daily driving. Let me share with you an example that happened just this morning.

I was at a red light and there was a lane to my left going in my same direction. A car was there. We were both at the front of the line of cars waiting for the red light to turn green. There was a lane also to my right, but it was slated to runout once you got across the intersection. You could use that lane to proceed ahead straight, though you would quickly need to merge into my lane once you passed through the intersection. By-and-large, most people used the lane that was to my right to make a right turn and did not use it to proceed ahead through the intersection.

I’ve always thought that this setup of the traffic structure was begging to get someone into trouble.

If there was a car in my current position and they were not looking around to realize that the lane to their right can go straight, they might inadvertently stray into that lane as they cross the intersection, perhaps cutting off a car in that lane that is trying to go straight. Likewise, a car in that lane, if not paying attention, might inadvertently panic as they go through the intersection and realize at the last moment that their lane is disappearing, and therefore attempt wildly to merge into my lane.

Well, a car in that rightmost lane pulled up beside me and it was apparent that the driver was not intending to make the right turn. In which case, I knew they would be desirous of going straight through the intersection once the light turned green. This also meant that they would quickly want to get into my lane, since their lane disappeared rapidly upon reaching the other side of the intersection.

Did this driver realize they were going to lose their lane? If so, would they be polite about it? Presumably, the driver should allow my car to proceed ahead and then they should come back behind me. In some cases, a driver in that rightmost lane opts instead to hit the gas and try to get ahead of the cars in my lane. They figure that they can race through the intersection once the light turns green, and get ahead of the other cars, allowing them to take over the merged lane and proceed ahead unimpeded.

Notice that I alluded to the notion of racing in that last statement. Yes, there was a possibility that my car would be raced by the car to my right. This would be an unsanctioned race.

Unfortunately, the roadway engineers that devised the road structure had created a circumstance that invited a kind of road race to take place. I’m sure that throughout the day, this spot has its repeated moments of miniature road races. Over and over again this would play out. Unsuspecting drivers would get dragged into a road race. It would be interesting to know how many scuffles and bumper scrapes this produced. Hopefully it wasn’t leading to injuries and deaths, though it was certainly devised to encourage such untoward results.

Since I didn’t know what the other driver might do, I decided I would rapidly accelerate once the green light appeared and try to get ahead of the other car. It was my hope that doing so would make it clear to the other driver that they could simply fall in behind my car. They might not realize the need to do so until after getting across the intersection, but in any case, I’d have already cleared past the intersection and so the obvious choice for that driver at that juncture would be to merely get into my lane, being positioned behind my car which had already sped ahead.

That was my plan.

When the light turned green, I sped ahead at a faster speed than I might normally do so when starting from a stopped red light to a go-ahead with a green light position. The other car in the rightmost lane though must have perhaps driven this stretch of road before, or perhaps detected the disappearing lane while sitting at the red light and therefore opted to also accelerate rapidly as a means to zip forward. The driver seemed to be intending to get ahead of me and ultimately swing into my lane, rather than a willingness to fall behind me.

The road race was on!

I looked in my rear mirror and could see that the car behind me had decided to go at my same speed and was right on my bumper. This other driver was perhaps also thinking that the rightmost lane driver should fall behind us all. Or, the driver behind me was just a pushy driver and wanted to get going fast, and maybe was oblivious to the road race situation happening. It’s hard to know what the other driver behind me knew or was thinking about.

If I slowed down mid-intersection, doing so to allow the rightmost driver to pull ahead, I might risk having the car behind me ram into my car. Me and the driver behind me were both accelerating at the same pace and an unexpected braking or slow down might have caught them unawares.

Another option was to go even faster. I already had the presumed right-of-way in my lane and if I sped up it would prevent the rightmost driver from trying to get ahead of me and merge into my lane in front of me. I was sure that the driver behind me would welcome my going even faster.

At this point in time, none of us was going faster than the speed limit. I mention this because I don’t want you to think that any of us were doing an outright race at top speeds. We were all accelerating at rather rapid amounts but still well-below the actual posted speed limit. As I say, this was a miniature road race.

Upon my accelerating even more, the rightmost driver did the same. Was he doing so by happenstance and merely trying to get ahead of me, or was he doing so because he felt challenged by my car and thought we were somehow immersed in a personal road race? There is always the chance of sparking a road rage by seemingly engaging someone into an even mild road race situation.