:iagree: Thing here is that you bought the car. It wasn't given to you. Therefore it has value to you. I worked 2 part time jobs while going to school so I could buy my first car, a '75 Camaro.

 

The article dosen't say that he owned the car. My guess is that his dad owned it and his son has been begging him for a week to drive it.

In any case, it's tragic for parents to lose a child. They will carry the guilt for years. It's human nature to look for blame when something like this happens.
I'm sure the media exaggerated anything the parents had to say including blaming it on a movie.




[Modified by 71coupe, 2:51 PM 6/15/2003]

 

What a terrible waste.! I am an Ex Police Officer, with grown children now, and I cannot imagine anything worse than losing one of your children. No matter how grief stricken, blame has to be placed where it is due! No movie should ever be blamed for ones actions, Im sure the problem lies alsewhere. My sympathys to the family!.....................LT.

 

Gotta love how they had to work in something about the car enthusiast club meeting where the members go out to party afterwards. As if they had something to do with it . . . :rolleyes:

 

ok...im tired of people blaming the fast and furious.....street racing went on before the movie came out....all the movie did was show that it did.....yea....some say its bad for a 17 year old to drive a corvette.....well...im 18 with a corvette and im pretty responsible......everyone now and then has the urge to race.....i know there are people out there that dont believe this....but its true......y else do the make these 12 cylinder cars? not for gas milage.....i dunno many people that have 8 cylinders that dont race.....a 2002 zo6 alway wants to race me...and the guy is like 60......age doesnt matter.....movies dont influence....if people are gonna race..they will....and....if they mess up they die.....cant really stop it...

Wow! Your Honda makes 100hp/liter! Good thing I have so many more liters.

 

typical blame the media stuff, i feel bad for the kid cause he is only my age and wrecked/died, but wish i could have had his car.

"[The Fast and the Furious] talks about the drivers using nitrous oxide. Some of these kids have that in their cars,'' he said."

what is that supposed to prove/mean. they had tires on thier cars too, well i have tires so i must race. given NOS is a racing item but still that quote is jsut completly random and just is hter to draw a connection to the movie, so they can take the blame away from the parents and the kid.

MAtt

 

Unfortunately, a 17 kid is dead and can never be replaced! His father was a stupid bastard to let him loose in that car as we can all agree. But you have to realize, a lot more kids are killed in $500-3000 beater cars as any other car(s). You gotta love the USA and reality is, the father and the two drivers that got away will all blame the movie and in this day and time of frivolous law suits, the SOB (father) will probably file suit against the movie producer, company, and car sponsors, and win big bucks and buy a new C6 someday. I only hope everytime he looks at it, he remembers the precious blood it took to get it.

 

Well, granted. Most kids with performance cars like to show off. However, I've had my Vette since I was 16 and my Z-28 since I was 19. No accidents and a clean driving record. Power is responsibility; anyway way you look at it. What you get for your childeren is a judgment call and part of parenting in general. I think the blanket statements some are making that a young person should not be allowed to drive these powerful machines are a bit harsh.
Perhaps there should be a "parent mode" installed on the newer cars so the Traction Control and other things can be set to ALWAYS be on and only be unlocked by the owner. I'd feel lots better lending my Z out (not that I do.. just hypothetically) if there was a function like this.

 

Blaming the movie Fast and Furious? Who gives a s h i t who/what they blame.. they ought to blame themselves. Damn kid.. and poor Vette! :nonod:


[Modified by ShowCorvetteLove, 1:17 AM 6/16/2003]

 

Corvette Kid you point is taken very well here. But, the numbers of fatalities amonst the younger kids...16-25 is staggering. Hence, the skyrocketing insurance rates for this age group. To drive a performance car takes alot of reserve. I get all kinds of idgits wanna to race..just cause the car looks "fast". Again, I do respect the example you are putting out there..but you are the 1% that is doing it right. As far as the parents blaming the movies on how "thier kids" act and what the immulate..it all starts at home. I get tired of people not taking personal responsibility for their own or their families actions. Always has to be "someone" elses fault. This is getting old, but obviously the one's in power can't see this.

Probably cause their too busy with their own personal lives..to give a heck what my kid does when they are not around me. Again, to drive these cars is to have respect for yourself, the car and the public which you share the road with. If you wanna race..take it to the strip. Don't endager the rest of us. Truely a sad day and another waste of a young life. My prayers are for his family. :blueangel:


[Modified by 81' Corvette Guy, 3:09 AM 6/16/2003]

 

"Lacasse's family is blaming the movie, The Fast and the Furious, joining a chorus of police and parents who have been voicing concern about the movie's influence on teens and the growing street-racing culture."

Of course. There's no way that this kid was just a friggin' idiot who couldn't handle the supercar that his mommy and daddy bought him. It must be the fault of a Hollywood producer.

"Even though police say they do not keep statistics on street-racing incidents, they think it recently has become more popular, especially after the release of movies such as The Fast and the Furious."

Oh, is that so? What else do they think? I'm very interested in what a bunch of traffic cops THINK about a statistic that they have no friggin' idea about. Please, journalists and reporters, we need more of this! What do cops think about Dunkin' Donut's coffee? What do they think is the best looking color for an Oldsmobile? How about CNN, do they think that's a good news source? I'M DYING TO KNOW WHAT THE TRAFFIC COPS THINK!

"[The Fast and the Furious] talks about the drivers using nitrous oxide. Some of these kids have that in their cars."

You don't say. You know, I saw a movie once where there was this guy who had a tattoo. And I was thinking... man. I know some people who have tattoos. Scary poopie.

"Pajon said the drag-racing law has helped the Highway Patrol, which hopes to stage another crackdown on drag racers soon."

DRAG RACING IS A SPORT, YOU STUPID, STUPID BASTARDS. Why do they keep using "drag racing" and "street racing" in the same articles? Drag racing is a sport. When there is a bar fight, do they call it boxing? NO! Stupid bastards.

 

I hear ya Jerry. Up hear in Canada they keep calling it roadracing, which is also a sport. They even made a group called STARR: Students Against Road Racing. They published this in an article and the newspaper had 4 pages of editorials of people complaining about hte fact that their sport's name was being blackend. If you're gonna say something at least know what your talking about. O and I think we should all take our stereos out of our cars because they had stereos in 2 gay 2 stupid and that means we're promoting "drag racing" :rolleyes:

 

I think what a lot of kids are thinking these days that is they have or are in what would be considered a good car that they can drive like the pros. My brother is of the same breed.

A few weeks ago my brother took out the Mercedes C280 to go to Steak and Shake. On the way back he decided to "straighten the curve" on a downhill curve going 80 in my neighbor hood. He got air and crashed into a steel mailbox causing $5000 damage to the car and having to totally replace a $500 mailbox. Insurance isn't going to cover it because it was past curfew for 17 year olds. He was lucky that there wasn't any one out at that time of night or he would have killed some one.

Then he had the nerve to ask to drive my vette. :skep:

Kids need to learn that it is the driver that makes the car and not the car that makes the driver.

 

I have to agree with the many posters in this thread who have expressed opinions on how actually making payments for repairs/insurance/ownership of the car make a difference in the attitude of the driver.

When I was 17, I drove a four door Dodge that my parents had bought as a second car, and I had to share it with my sisters. I'll admit that my driving at this age wasn't always as 'careful' as it could have been, and that may have been in part because I had so little of my own money invested in that car. One day, I managed to jump a curb because I was driving too fast around a wet and icy curve. Insurance claim? Nope. The money for the repairs came right out of the savings I had made working part time after school, etc. This was one of the first big lessons I got in automotive responsibility. Later on, when I was paying for my own car with my own insurance, do you think I was driving as wildly as I did when I was 17? Nope! Those were MY cars....something I had a vested financial interest in, and considering the last few cars I have owned, a wild, reckless attitude towards driving would soon have priced insurance and repair bills WAY up there! I've paid in full for all the cars I have owned up 'til now, so that represents a LOT of saved money invested in cars. I've got to keep the costs down any way I can, and NOT paying huge repair bills or increased insurance rates for getting into reckless accidents helps a LOT!

I am 34 years old, and I have three cars at the moment; a 1978 Corvette, a 1976 Corvette, and a 1971 MGB. I pay less per month to insure all three of these cars for two months (with a clean driving record) than I did for ONE month with the 280-Z I owned when I was 25. My last three cars prior to these were a Mazda RX-7, a Pontiac Fiero, and a Datsun 280-Z. Can you imagine what someone at 17 could do with some of these cars if they didn't have to pay for them? Can you imagine how much it would cost to insure someone of high school age on one of these cars?

Sorry, I got to rambling a bit there.

I guess the point I'm trying to stress is this;

Ownership and responsibility can make a LOT of difference. Yes, there are people on this forum who are high school age and own Vettes, but I am sure that the ones who have had to pay/make payments on their cars, or who have to pay to restore/upkeep their rides are a LOT more careful with their cars than the ones who don't have to pay for all that.

Take care out there.

 

What an Einstein..............GIVING a C-5 to a 17 year old! That's like giving a teenager a 'Foxy Lady' membership and open tab, and being surprised when he gets an STD or drug addicted.
Terminal stupidity seems to be genetic here.

:crazy: :yesnod: :crazy:


[Modified by MassVette, 10:32 AM 6/17/2003]

 

:iagree: Some times the gene pool needs some Clorox

 

QUOTE]"Lacasse's family is blaming the movie, The Fast and the Furious, joining a chorus of police and parents who have been voicing concern about the movie's influence on teens and the growing street-racing culture."[QUOTE]

Parents are to blame here 100%.
1. Wasn't The Fast and the Furious rated R? If so then no one under 17 admitted without their parents. That movie came out a couple of years ago so this kid was only 15 at the time........Did the parents take him to the movie? Hey, I know lets blame the theater.
2. The parents either let Jr. use the Vette for the night or they bought the car for him.....either way, letting an inexperience driver in a 345hp car is a bigggggggggggg mistake. I tried everything I could when I was that age to get my parent’s cars burn rubber and do stupid stuff. If I had a Vette at that age I'd probably be dead too.

Parents today are just not interested and involved in their kid’s lives. I blame a lot of today’s problems on this. I had a stay at home mom and when I was in HS I had to come home right after school and "check in" with here before doing stuff with my friends. My parents knew which movies I was going to see and the theaters would not let anyone in an R rated movie without seeing an ID if you looked under age. Now days its all about the mighty $$$$$$$$$$. Theaters would let a 5 year old into a XXX movie if it means getting the $5 admission price. In the past 10 to 15 years the morals of the country have gone to S*%t and I blame the erosion of the family unit and the root cause. When my wife became pregnant with our first child we decided that she quit her job and become a full time mom. We watch what he sees on TV and are teaching him that most of the stuff you see on the tube is make-believe and that he should never try any of it. We will be involved with every aspect of both our sons’ lives. We will let them make mistakes because that is one of the best teachers of life events but as far as safety and common sense is concerned, I am all over their butts. We are not over protective but concerned and involved with their lives. We will teach them morals and the difference between right and wrong. Its not hard it just takes involvement. Sorry about the rant but the more I see parents and the public in general trying to blame others for something it really pisses me off.
:rant:


[Modified by theandies, 11:14 AM 6/17/2003]

 

:iagree:

 

17 years old and out in a high performance car at 12:30 am by himself! It can't be the parents fault, it's always someone else that's at fault.

That's the one thing that concerns me. People just don't want to take responsibility.

A mistake was made, it's sad the kid died, but the proper measures supposed to be in place by the parents weren't there. No one elase is at fault.

Maybe he took his hands off the wheel to wave at another vette and lost control? Not!

 

Here's my take on this. Daddy gives spoiled 17 year old son keys to 1999 Corvette. Tells spoiled son not to worry about any curfew. And that if he gets caught speeding, he will "take care" of the ticket. Gave spoiled son ALL the tools to go out and kill himself with his Daddy's blessings. Then is riddled with guilt, but has a self-rightous concience and blames somebody/something else. The shame is that the boy died and that the movie company will not go to court over this and just settle out of court to avoid the bad publicity. As stated before.....the blood of his son IS on his hands. No money could EVER replace a son I had a hand in killing. :nonod: :flag