Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Page 73

DREYMAR UM BILAR Á OYCCJUM
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new meanings and styles. Young people are
determined to take their own decisions
regarding direction, rapidity and destination
in life’s manifold challenges (Best 2006).
Young people desire to form new cultural
constructions by combining well-known
things in new ways. The car is regarded as a
key to success in this latemodern society
mission ( Dennis and Urry, 2009). The prob-
lem arises when someone tries to legitimize
his capacities, cultural status and social capi-
tal through car driving. Such persons nor-
mally hold a relatively marginalized position
in society. Young speed hogs often act in a
delirium of untamed emotions. These
drivers feel joy and frenzied enthusiasm
when riding the roads. Nothing can stop
them. Also the risky high speed drive can be
a provocative counter-cultural message to
the adult generations (Best, 2006).
Bad boys and marginalization
Social marginalization is closely linked to
behaviour in traffic. It is not coincidental
that some young people end in traffic
incidents, again and again, whiles other
young drivers take no risks and are very
anonymous on the roads. Kevin Mogensen
(2002), a Danish researcher, says:
"Youths with risk-identity, risk-youths and
risk-drivers are typicaHy youths that don't
have any other place where they can
explore their identity without thefeeling of
being disliked and marginalized. Risk-
youths can have problems to adapt to
institutional contexts - family, school,
education and working-places - that
demand the youth to act in reflexive and
individualistic styles"
Latemodern society, according to Mogensen
who writes about Danish male drivers, puts
new stifling demands on young men with
strong masculine identities. The new
'freedom' propagated by preachers of
latemodernity feels like a heavy burden on
these. The car comes to their rescue in this
dilemma.
"The bigfreedom that apparently gives the
individual the chance to be exactly the one
he wants to isfrightening. It isfavourably
substituted in situations with much
smaller presiure and simpler demands.
The car is in one way the youth's lastfree
resort. Here there are uncomplicated rules
of game and social relations that you
yourself choose to relate to. In cars youths
can.for a while, escapefrom and suspend
society's and time’s forced on freedom;
they can be free...from freedom"
Another interestingobservation that I made
during my fieldwork among young drivers is
the way life and death are portrayed by the
boys and girls. Many drivers that almost got
killed in traffic accidents are Christians with
a strong belief in God as their saviour. The
survival is therefore often described as a
miracle with extraordinary coincidences. Life
after the 'doomsday’ crash is often conside-
red a message from God that gives the driver
a second change to 'improve' lifestyle and
moral values. In a very fatalistic fashion some
drivers describe tragic events as a prophetic
drama orchestrated by divine powers. In
other cases the shocking crash is illustrated
as the awakening hour when a lost boy
found God. The crash symbolizes the shift
from a miserable existence to a life as passio-