EDITORIAL
Racers need venues — and tougher penalties

The cult following of movies such as "Rebel without a Cause," "Bullitt" and "The Fast and the Furious" suggests the glamour of street racing isn't new.

For young men who like to work on their cars, illegal racing offers instant machismo, not to mention martyrdom to those killed in the inevitable collision.

And if these speed demons limited their contests to race tracks, we'd be happy to let them put pedal to the metal. That's their risk to take. Not ours.

But when they race on our highways and even residential streets, all of us are potential victims. And that's why they have to be stopped.

To prosecute for racing, authorities must prove that two vehicles were in a timed contest and trying to outmaneuver each other, according to an article by Advertiser police reporter Peter Boylan. That's a tough case to make.

Honolulu police issued 399 racing citations between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31. Only one case of fatal street racing has resulted in a felony conviction since 1975.

In response, Sen. Cal Kawamoto, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, is considering introducing bills to impose stricter penalties against street racers. They would include felony charges, license suspension and vehicle forfeiture on anyone convicted of driving 30 mph above the speed limit.

Instead of just focusing on punishment, we may be able to take some racers off the streets if they have more access to race tracks. O'ahu has just one legal race track, at Campbell Industrial Park. And the demand exceeds capacity.

Offering more venues might help separate serious racers from the reckless speeders.

But if racing on public highways is how you get your kicks, consider what happens to your body during a high-speed collision.

At the moment of impact, passengers are hurled at the same speed that the car was moving into such parts as the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield.

Meanwhile, the body's internal organs slam into other organs or the skeletal system. This internal collision is often what causes injury or death.

He may have been pretty in the movies, but idol James Dean, who crashed his speeding Porsche Spyder, was not a pretty corpse.