Cheap thrills kill

I’m probably going to lose a few friends by writing this article; but then again, I will probably end up losing more if I don’t.

I’m talking about speeding on public roads. I would be a hypocrite if I said I had never done it, but after seeing the carnage it leaves behind, just like it did on Black Saturday when yet another innocent person lost his life to another senseless act of utter and total stupidity, I stopped.

I don’t care how cool your car is or how much horsepower you squeezed out of it on the dyno, there is absolutely nothing cool about having our lives involuntarily placed in your selfish or incompetent hands. Fine if you wipe yourself out, but spare a thought for the innocent folks who have nothing invested in your ego.

You just have to look at the CCTV footage of that Mustang driven by a certain Baldwin Dee Co that plowed into the back of a Mitsubishi Adventure on the Skyway, killing one police officer and seriously injuring three others, to know what I’m talking about. Yet week in and week out, there are still several organized groups of supercar owners that exist solely to break each other’s speed records on this very stretch.

It started out fairly covert, but then it started getting more and more brazen with footage even being uploaded onto social media sites celebrating the lawlessness. And if I’m starting to sound like a bit of a prude, let me just qualify that we’re talking sustained speeds of over 360km/h on a road that was designed for 100km/h. It is hopelessly cool seeing that on an abandoned airstrip or oval, but if you have a tire blow out at that speed, you are not only risking the lives of other motorists but of the residents of the homes below the skyway.

And this is what I have a problem with. It has gone too far.

There is even the story of one of the fun runs coming to an abrupt halt when the police set up a barricade at the end of the Skyway not too long ago. Knowing full well that these groups head out early on a Sunday morning to flex their muscle cars, the cops blocked off the Buendia exit to apprehend the speedsters. Seeing that it was the final exit with no here else to go, it seemed like a foolproof plan. That was until the supercars did a u-turn when they noticed the road block and drove against the flow of traffic down the Skyway to take the Amorsolo exit instead.

It is all very Hollywood, I know, but it is not very glamorous when either you or someone you know gets hurt––especially if they had nothing to do with it. Try and imagine you or one of your family taking a leisurely Sunday drive and being confronted by several high-speed bullets coming at you.

Many of these guys are friends of mine and have asked me to join them many times but as much as I love cars and speed, I refuse to. I did join them once many years ago, and as I said earlier, I’m not proud of that.

There’s a time and a place to enjoy your cars, and with two international racing circuits both located within two hours’ drive of Manila, there really is no excuse to do this on public roads. Just ask Baldwin Dee Co.

Speeding excessively in your car on public roads is no different to firing a gun randomly in the air. Sooner or later, there will be blood. So I’m making this humble request to you all before it gets any worse. Please stop. Set an example for responsible car ownership by taking your cars to the track. C’mon, guys. It was fun while it lasted. Don’t be the last to leave the party––or worse, be carried out.