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MKSGR said:
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dhayek said:
i dont agree, the man was doing what i asked him to do: unleash the full power of the car , if i told him to drive slowly, he would have done so
The fun ends (and crime starts) when other people are endangered. This lorry driver might have panicked - what then? Somebody might have crossed the street or rode by bike or whatever in the speed limited zone; suddenly a car passes at a speed of 280kph - what then?
No, no. This is simply criminal behavior. Public streets are no race track
From my experience, most lorry drivers usually do not panic when a significantly lower, lighter vehicle plays a game of chicken during a joyride.
If the factory driver and dhayek had died in an accident due to the factory driver's misjudgement, most of us would be partially blaming the factory driver for endangering dhayek's life much like some of us partially blame Ben for endangering Corey's life or much like we partially blame ourselves for endangering our passengers and the public every time we deliver a risky joyride or simply drive too fast/too slow for the conditions resulting sometimes with or without consequences.
We do not know if Corey asked Ben to drive in a manner that would convince him to get rid of his overheating Murcielago and buy a CGT but we do know Dimitri requested the factory driver to do what was necessary to convince him an LP640's extra power was worth the asking price.
In Dimitri's and the factory driver's case, no harm equals no foul. If endangering others or ourselves was a crime, all of us starting with our ancestors would be behind bars from a young age.
For those interested in prosecuting risky behavior as criminal, please note the following story is fictional:
As a result of Ben's accident, I am constantly trying to brainwash myself into driving slower and not taking unnecessary risks. Although most of the time I am successful at kicking it down a notch, can a leopard change its spots?
The other day I was driving home on a 3-4 lane highway after reading some car magazines. While driving in traffic, listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I had to speed up to change lanes into the middle lane on a long downhill. But due to the layout of the "exit only" lanes and traffic pattern I was not able to find a safe spot in the right lane to decrease speed down to below the speed limit.
Suddenly two speeders flew past me in the fast lane. An we approached a tunnel known as an accident prone zone, I was already speeding and the risk-willing side of my mind was arguing to increase speed and try to see if I still had enough mind and body coordination left to show these speeders what a combination of speeding, late braking, race pads, summer tires, and eight years of all-season seat time behind the wheel of one car can do against other men and their machines. On the contrary, the risk-averse side said "Don't you even dare, you numbskull. Have you forgotten what happened to Ben?" As I got closer to the point of no return, the former side won and I told the other to keep quiet and instead help me concentrate on the dangerous maneuver.
I increased speed, dive-bombed into the curved tunnel using the right lane, passed the second speeder, left-foot-late-braked past the first speeder, approached a slow-moving vehicle in front of me, turned on my left signal as I gauged whether the lead speeder was closing the door or not and then, after concluding the door was adequately open, proceeded to slot in between him and the vehicle in front of him. He flashed his high beam once out of surprise and irritation and I exited the tunnel, switched lanes, carried on towards my exit, found a safe area, slowed down below the speed limit and listened quietly as my risk-averse side proceeded to lecture me while my risk-willing side winked, displaying a smile recharged with self-esteem.
So unwise and yet so intoxicating. Placing myself and others at greater than average risk? Without a doubt.
Then, why did I do it? Why did Ben, Corey, Dimitri, the factory driver, the crocodile hunter and the hamster do it? Why do we all take risks in life?
Because I was trying to boost my self-esteem and because as proposed by the following article, it is one of the laws of nature:
http://www.discover.com/issues/dec-01/features/featrisks/