I am going to bump this again. I think EVERYONE should read the first post before ANY and EVERY event. And ask yourself, "do my actions reflect porely on our community?" if the answer yes - do not do it.

I am not going to single out anyone, but weaving in and out of traffic or playing chase is very dangerous and gets the general public very upset.

As stated in the first post when 2 or more S's are together - that reflects on the group as a whole. We do not need to draw any negative attention to ourselves by driving like idiots on public roads.

I for one do not like to be associated with people who act like they are 18 years old and or are filming a stunt from a movie. So if you feel that you need to act this way - go to a track day and get it out of your system and keep it off the public roads.

 

ooooh...oh! someone was doing speed racing in public road again. just do what i do..... i take my car to PIR and let her rip apart. boost booost

 

Just to make it clear. EVERYONE speeds. You can try to say you don't but you do. EVERYONE passes. You can try to say you don't but you do.

So that message should be heard by EVERYONE, not just a slim few. No one is exempt.

 

Garret's message is NOT directed at EVERYONE.

It is not directed at those who drive sanely.

It is directed at those who drive recklessly in the name of sport - and their antics that reflect on the rest of us.

Larry

 

The overarching theme with the original post and the agreements isnt that *an individual* does something wrong/stupid/dangerous, but that it happens in a group setting where the target of people's anger is not the driver, but the car as an image.

"All S2000 drivers are wreckless" is the stigma we are trying to avoid.

Speeding on your own time by yourself is your own risk vs reward gamble. I take that risk quite often (very unwisely, but alone) and recently I got bit. That was my own fault. My reward was a $240 reduction in my bank account

Doing such things in a large group setting puts everyone else at risk even if they don't want to be. Racing, weaving, or chasing people down on crowded freeways with a bunch of the same looking car puts other drivers in the same group AND non-participants at risk as well as puts them in a foul mood towards you and your peers. Personally, I dont want MY car to get hit by someone else in the group because they were trying to play cat and mouse on I5 during rushhour.

If someone in the group was playing chase and tried to weave around a slower car and clipped another member, what happens to the friendship we all share? It can be guaranteed to be put to the test:

"you hit me, I need your insurance"
"It isnt that bad, why are you making such a big deal"
"Because you damaged my car!"
"Well, I dont have the money to fix it, and I dont want it on my insurance"
*cops called*

That isnt something we want anyone in the group to deal with.

I doubt anyone wants to stop somewhere for a bite to eat and end up getting a face full from some irate SUV driver because a couple of people in S2000s were scaring/irritating him and his family so he decides to be a tough guy and chase *one* down to the restaurant.

So yes, we all probably speed. We all have probably had situations where we may have cut someone off, or pissed off another driver. The attitude just has to change when you are in the VERY visible and identifiable group setting. That is aside from the fact that (we hope) the members of this group are close enough friends to not want to risk that friendship (or someone's life!) in order to have fun when it is wiser/better NOT to. There is a time and a place. There is also a very bad grey area between driving spirited and driving dangerously. We are trying to avoid getting too deep into that grey area while still being able to have fun as a group. That's where the rest of the membership comes in. Keeping things safe/sane while still being able to have a reasonable amount of fun.

 

I completely understand what you are saying Aaron, however, even the group setting and official drives we speed. Getting on the freeway going 90 MPH is speeding.

 

I would never ever go above 90 mph on a freeway.. never ever... ever... ever... with the s2k crew

crap....

maybe once.


Bla! Oh well, lets hit PIR and bust over 130!!!



The red light sun burn energy beams coming from Ira's head will power us!

 

In any of the official drives, the drive leaders tend to regularly keep to the speed limit with maybe a small amount of fudging (60-65 in a 55 for instance) to keep with the speed of traffic on the freeways. We might push it in the corners on the back roads we enjoy, but other than one or two occasions of "open road" acceleration in the past where there was no other traffic, I can't recall an official drive where we've ever done 90 within heavy traffic or not. I know we VTEC onto the freeways to merge. If we pass, we accelerate longer than usual to make room for the car behind us. Beyond that, when/where? I ask only because I want to know so we can better monitor that sort of thing.

As I said before, it's a grey area as to where the spirit stops and the danger begins. We want to have fun, but we dont want to be *stupid*. On a freeway, I can pass a cop doing 70 if I am by myself and he probably wont budge. He COULD pull me over, but the chance of him doing so is slim. If a LINE of S2ks pass him doing 70...it might be worth his time to pull over the entire convoy. See the problem?

Besides, this came back up more because of how the person was DRIVING, not so much the speed. The weaving, the chasing, the cutting off other cars and almost clipping people.

In many ways, it's up to the group to self-police eachother. If someone...ANYONE...is doing something (including the COs) that others feel is unsafe/wreckless then it needs to be brought to their attention so it can be resolved or stopped.

If it is happening on the non-official drives, the people who put on the drive have the "right" to make the rules and set the pace. We HOPE that they would keep in mind as to the dangers of letting things get out of hand and the image it plasters across the entire local community. If you get out there by yourself and drive like a maniac, more power to you. I hope you stay safe though. Larry and I have nothing to do with the setup or execution of the non-official drives.

As CO's, we are only the moderators for the forum and try to keep the community running smoothly and keep the peace. We want everyone to have a good time and all our friends to be safe. If people come to us with concerns, we express them and try to resolve them. We cant make you do something you dont want to do, but we do expect you to respect your fellow members enough to consider their feelings/concerns. We put on drives as part of our "job" but we are not expected nor required to. We (Larry mostly) do it because we enjoy it and we enjoy all of you. But we are not babysitters. We simply wont tolerate certain behaviour on our drives and if people start having a reputation of being a certain way, we wont let them go on ours. They can do their own thing on their own time. If other members want to invite them, they can and do so at their own risk.

I think back to the Chelan drive. I have to imagine Chris would have been pretty angry at some people if he got a ticket from that trooper because of the non-Chelan group's actions further down the highway that he was no part of. He was targetted because it was "a group of S2000s driving dangerously".

Dang, I can get wordy, cant I

 

When it comes down to it if you are "VTECing" you are speeding.

The biggest thing about speed that comes to mind was when we were leaving the McDonalds for the Astoria drive, getting on 26 and I know I hit 90. Even if the leader isn't going that fast the other people have to chase in order to catch up.

Weaving in and out of traffic isn't an issue on the Official drives because the leaders should know not to pass anyone. Passing people is the biggest gray area there is. From what I remember you cannot exceed the speed limit in order to pass someone and you need a buffer of 10 MPH in order to be able to pass safely. AKA the person you are passing needs to be going 10 MPH under the speed limit.

It just seems to me like this is becoming a do as I say not as I do issue.

I hope the "person" that was driving so recklessly was informed and not just left in the dark.

 

They, yes plural, were told and even if they were not they should know that the comments were aimed squarly at them.