Furious at fast crash assumptions
No proof yet that nitrous mods were involved in 2 deaths
Making car a safer, swifter performer shouldn't be a crime
Jun. 3, 2006. 01:00 AM
JIM KENZIE

Russell Soares is semi-fast, but he's plenty furious.

The car enthusiast with a (slightly) modified car is furious that an Oak Ridges couple died last Saturday night when their Hyundai was, to quote reporter San Grewal's story in Wednesday's Star, "shredded'' by a Honda Civic that allegedly was going some 140 km/h on Yonge St. in Richmond Hill.

But Soares, who is in his 30s, is also furious that the article implied the Honda was modified and that police allege it was participating in street racing.

And he is furious that politicians like Frank Klees, MPP for Oak Ridges and a former Ontario transportation minister, are jumping on this tragedy.

They're calling for the banning of modifications such as nitrous oxide systems, which can increase the power of a car many times over.

A court-imposed publication ban on the case makes Soares wonder how anyone can automatically assume nitrous, indeed, any modification — or even street racing — was involved.

Soares notes that even a 12-year-old diesel Volkswagen can do 140 km/h — it's the idiot who chooses to drive it at that speed in an urban environment that is at fault here.

But some authorities seem all too ready to blame the car.

This attitude has led some insurance companies to cancel coverage if modifications have been done to a car that might even suggest it was ever driven on a track.

(Never mind if that ever actually happened.)

Metaphor time:

Prostitutes wear short skirts. That woman is wearing a short skirt.

Therefore, she's a prostitute.

Let me get this straight: Mercedes-Benz invents an automatic roll bar that pops up to protect you in a crash.

You can't get this technology in a Civic, so at considerable personal expense you install a roll bar in your car, thereby making it safer — and they cancel your insurance?

Also, if some 18-year-old — more likely, Mommy and Daddy — buys a Porsche 911 Turbo, that's okay?

But if said 18-year-old buys a Civic and makes it as fast as a 911 Turbo, that isn't okay?

Maybe it isn't okay.

But, either way, it isn't the fault of the machinery.

There was even a fatal crash some time ago that involved a kid street-racing a Mercedes-Benz M-Class SUV.

Hello?

The worst crash involving a Wheels reporter occurred some years ago when two drunk/high young men in a stolen Dodge Caravan, with police in hot pursuit, failed to make the modest left-hand bend in Lake Shore Blvd., at Yonge.

The old van T-boned the Jaguar XK8 coupe that our man was in, waiting at a stop light.

Fortunately, the van hit the press fleet Jag around the left-front door post, where the structure is the strongest.

Had the impact occurred even a half-metre farther back, he would have been much more seriously injured.

I don't recall the Honourable Mr. Klees calling for a ban on killer Caravans.

Another example of the hypocrisy surrounding this issue occurs whenever enthusiasts organize track days so fellow car nuts can test their cars' performance to the limit, in safety.

You can almost guarantee that local cops will be stationed at every entrance and exit to the track, hassling the competitors for having blue windshield washer nozzles.

The Star story did point out one person in authority who seems to have a grip on this issue.

York Regional police Sgt. Dave Mitchell, co-founder of the task force Project ERASE (Eliminate Racing Activity on Streets Everywhere), said that high-performance cars, whether factory-built or subsequently modified, are like alcohol.

"People can buy it, but they know they can't drink more than a certain amount and then get behind the wheel of a car,'' he said.

Exactly.

The story also noted that street racing has been associated with at least 33 deaths in the GTA since 1999. Let's do the math: that's about four deaths a year.

Is street racing the biggest traffic safety problem we have?

Hardly.

Almost 3,000 people are killed every year in this country on our roads. Every one of them is a tragedy.

Because traffic deaths tend to occur to younger people — car crashes are the Number 1 killer of people under age 44 — the loss in person-years is even greater.

What a waste.

I know: before I was born, a 5-year old who would have been my sister was run over by a truck in front of our house. I never knew her, but her death still resonates in our family.

Virtually every one of these road deaths is preventable.

But we have to attack the largest problem areas first, not the mosquito bites.

Klees, and Ontario's new transportation minister, Donna Cansfield, should get on with tougher driving tests, higher standards for driver education and stronger enforcement of truly dangerous driving behaviour.

And I don't mean speed traps on open highways.

If you need some ideas about where to start, my email address is below.