h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday saw quite a horrific car crash in Manchester City centre. Police are still investigating it, but there were so many witnesses with the same version of events that it shouldn't be that long an investigation.

The section of road is right outside the main part of Manchester University, and is known for people using the lights as a drag strip to try and show off and impress the students. From eye witness accounts it seems that the driver of one car pulled away from the lights very fast and was going "at motorway speed", not noticing that a taxi was doing a U-turn further up the road. The two collided and the speeding car turned over a couple of times before landing on its roof. Both drivers were alone in their vehicles, and both had to be cut out and taken to hospital. The taxi driver had fractured ribs, the speeding driver was unconscious at the scene but described as being in a "serious" condition. This resulted in one of the main roads in and out of Manchester City centre being closed for the majority of the day.

To get up to the speeds he was travelling at, to cause that sort of a crash he must have absolutely floored it away from the lights. Which is worrying.
I'm not perfect myself, in my past I've had speeding tickets and done stupid things in cars. But I do worry that the tendency to try and do better than the previous generation is having some bad effects. Trying to drive faster is just one of them. Dangerous sports are becoming more and more dangerous and drugs becoming "harder" are another two. By trying to prove that we are "better" than our previous generations, we're taking more and more risks.

I do wonder if this may eventually lead to pro-active Darwinism, with the more stupid being removed from the breeding pool. But I also wonder if we'll lose some of those who would normally throughout history have pushed the boundaries. Without those willing to take the risks as test pilots for example, we'd not be flying anywhere much.

Taking risks is needed, but taking stupid ones isn't.

I'm guessing that is either right outside where I lived when a Student, or maybe a minutes walk or two down Oxford St... Having crossed over that road many times, it'd seem to be an absolutely insane place for this kind of behavior... Not only the constant stream of traffic, buses/trams and cars, but just the numbers of pedestrians that always seemed to be moving along that kinda area, virtually any time of the day There are differnt levels of risk taking... This sort of thing.... I think is only going to remove those best removed from the gene pool; asides, of course, the fact there is always colaterlal damage from such idiot's behaviour...

It was right outside the museum.

Two more cyclists critically injured in London yesterday:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/two-cyclists-fighting-for-life-after-separate-rushhour-crashes-in-central-london-9153615.html

Does Darwinism also cover the innocent victims? Is it misadventure which makes cyclists take to the roads in rush hour?

I think it's stubborn hope that keeps us using the roads when drivers just don't seem to want to share.

How unfortunate this was not a discussion for a Daft Punk tune.

On a lighter note, when I was in college, there was a bar across from my dorm. The street between the two ended at an intersection to one of the main streets in town. The side street was on a steep uphill incline so it was easy to spin one's tires when the light turned green. Young punk males driving the Mustangs their parents bought them inevitably would try to get everyone's attention out front of the bar at closing time by seeing how obnoxiously they could spin their tires. One night, I decided to parody these macho men by gunning my 1978 (10 years old) POS Subaru wagon with it's 1.6 litre rubber band of an engine. What I wasn't expecting was that with the sudden surge my muffler would come disconnected and my little car created the sound of funny car dragster. It was hilarious.

>>I do wonder if this may eventually lead to pro-active Darwinism, with the more stupid being removed from the breeding pool.>>

You mean like in Gattaca?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

The main character wasn't supposed to have been born in the first place, if I remember the storyline correctly.

And in my neck of the woods, street racing is usually done in the middle of the night when the roads are mostly empty - one of my pet hates is being woken up by the noise they make. And the local cops are too few with a too big district to be everywhere all the time.

I may sometimes play at the redlight, trying to get a quick start, but I never accelerate for many seconds, and actually enjoy to take my foot off the gas as soon as I reach the speed limit. For me, it's not speed, it's reaction time that's fun.

That reminds me of how much I enjoyed being the fastest starter when the traffic lights turned green on my bicycle with only three gears compared to those with 12 gears, because they didn't have the intelligence to gear down before stopping for red light.

That was in my home town where it took me about 10 minutes between home and w*rk. After moving to Stockholm, riding a bicycle to w*rk would consist of 30 km/18.6 miles - in one diretion, that is. Which would at least double the two hours it takes me to get to w*rk and back by bus and tube.