Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Page 71

DREYMAR UM BILAR Á OYGGJUM
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behaviour with high speed and races on
deserted road stretches. Nothing, it seems,
can stop their game of death. Some boys
even, implicitly, consider their dead comra-
des as car cult martyrs.
Street racing
Young people talk a lot about street races,
but few have participated in them. Faroese
street races are secret informal ventures
without any clear organization. The street-
racing youth doesn’t represent an elaborate
youth culture even if a limited group of
young men form the hard core of the street-
racing milieu. These men have similar values
as street-racing youths from other North
European countries. Finnish youth subcul-
tures have strong street-racing traditions,
says the sociologist Heli Vaaranen (2004).
"The street-racing youths used their cultu-
ral performance to create nighttime
counter-experiences for their daytime
experiences of lost opportunities. This
counter-experience became 'a room of his
own', it defned a street racer's masculine
identity, and itfunctioned as a coping stra-
tegy to fight exclusion"
ln Finland, Vaaranen unveils, the street-
racing youths are in general marginalized
working-class boys and girls that don’t have
many success stories from everyday life. The
night-time show puts the otherwise
rnarginalized man in the centre, makes him
the hero with high status among peers.
Faroese street-racing youths are not very
difFerent from other young drivers, but they
are indeed risk takers that don’t take road
safety seriously. The street-racing youths are
usually young men from village working-
class homes with a conservative interpre-
tation of masculine values. Some of them are
the sons of car loving Atlantic cowboys from
the 1980s and 1990s. Usually the race, taking
place far from residential areas at night, has
two participating cars manned with the
drivers only. Other persons control the race's
start and fmishing lines as well as the poten-
tial presence of police or other unwelcomed
vehicles.
Reputed car-racing road stretches are,
my informants tell me, most often long, wide
and straight. But it is important to regularly
change location in order to avoid the atten-
tion of the police. Besides, it would be boring
routine, say some experienced informants,
to use the same piece of road again and
again. The racing youth's high spot are
weekend nights when many races take place.
Frequently, the races start accidentally, after
the boys, gathered around their cars, have
been engaged in boasting about power,
fearlessness and women. Suddenly the
rivalling pals have to rush to an appointed
road for the risky street battle to begin.
Another situation that can lead to impulsive
street races is when a group of young people,
driving in a couple of cars, is heading for a
village or town in order to participate in
social activities. All of a sudden two or three
drivers, wanting to pilot the convoy, speed
up and start a 'fast and furious' game.
Drivers that participate in spontaneous
races often show egocentric behaviour, igno-
ring the terror their frightened backseat
'hostages' are subjected to. To give the pas-
sive passengers in risk taking drivers' cars the
courage to say "stop!" is one of the main
challenges in traffic accident prevention