Street racers aren’t criminals. To me, being a criminal means intentionally hurting people, scamming, stealing, or exploiting others. Street racing is illegal, sure, but most people do it as a hobby because they love cars and racing and just becuase you break the law doesn’t make you a “criminal”. I hate how games like Need For Speed always paint racers as villains when the reality is way less black-and-white.

  • cravl@slrpnk.net
    1·
    7 days ago

    I’ll also add, besides the obvious public endangerment, street racers are just soooo fricking loud. Noise ordinances exist for a reason, but even where they don’t, nobody likes being woken up by a bunch of metal death boxes screeeaaaming past their window at 3am. (Near me, it’s a posse of motorbikes. I typed that as motorbiles at first. Heh.)

  • Baphomet_The_Blasphemer@lemmy.world
    60·
    9 days ago

    Street racers aren’t just criminals, they’re also extremely selfish people who put their “hobby” above the safety and well-being of the general public.

    If you want to race a car, go find a track.

    • r0ertel@lemmy.world
      17·
      9 days ago

      I came here to say just this. I used to belong to a hobbyist group that would reserve track time for races. They were timed trials for safety and had tow trucks and medics on standby. The best was when they watered the track in the winter and let it freeze overnight. Those were the slowest races I’ve ever seen. In addition to being safe fun, they taught how to handle your car in extreme situations.

      Here’s an example race: https://www.onelapofamerica.com/#!HOME

  • Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
    50·
    9 days ago

    “Street racers” are some of the worst people to exist. They have no empathy and regard for the lives and well-being of other people. Most of the time, their fatal accidents kill entirely unrelated people (including children!) that were just going about their business. Having “street racing” as your “hobby” is the ultimate display of unlimited egoism; you do not care at all about the actual humans you kill through your actions and the decades of connections you sever and memories you eradicate. And defending this abhorrent practice is almost as shameful as participating in it.

  • Madrigal@lemmy.worldEnglish
    47·
    9 days ago

    Putting other people at risk through deliberate or careless action is also considered to be criminal, in many cases.

  • remon@ani.social
    43·
    9 days ago

    Street racing is illegal, sure

    Exactly, it’s a crime. And people that engage in crimes are criminals.

    This isn’t a showerthought, you just need a dictionary.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    30·
    9 days ago

    I look forward to your changing your opinion when a member of yours family dies because of street racers loosing control of their car and smashing into them while standing at a set of lights waiting for the lights to change.

  • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world
    30·
    9 days ago

    In Need for Speed, how many other cars did you hit or do you play with traffic off? In a video game there are no consequences, so you end up hitting dozens and can keep going as you learn the game. In real life, you hit one car and someone is either dead, wishes they were, or incredibly lucky.

    How about hitting the trees, the road barriers, going through grass? All that stuff costs the community money to fix.

    Let’s say you’re the best (or luckiest) player in the world and never hit anything, how much did your little cousin hit when you first gave up the controller?

    Street racing is a crime because its dangerous to other people. You are intentionally putting other people’s life at risk for your own personal entertainment.

  • TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    25·
    9 days ago

    Being a criminal doesn’t mean that someone did something unethical, just that they did a crime - ie something illegal. However, in this case they are also doing something unethical.

  • TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today
    24·
    9 days ago

    If you want to race take it to a track. I understand the urge, but if you want to do that stuff go somewhere where you’re supposed to do it instead of endangering others.