Crotch rockets

*UPDATE: I have removed the pic from this post because for the past 8 months, I keep getting nothing but "CR" hits from Google Images. Time for a little variety! Goodbye pic! -TB 9/12/05*

*UPDATE #2: ARGH! I'm still getting tons of hits on this post - even without the pic. Okay, so now I'm going in to change all reference of cr*tch r*ckets to "CRs". -TB 9/19/05*

On my way to work there was a young kid (I'm just assuming he was a kid - surely an adult wouldn't be so stupid!) darting in and out of traffic on one of those damn sportbikes, or "CRs" as the cool kids call them these days.

Those things scare the piss out of me. I am constantly amazed at how they just appear out of nowhere in my rear view mirror, swoosh my long golden locks back (thanks La Chat!), then are gone in an instant. That is on the interstate so I can begin to deal with that. But what really gets me is the speeding and quick maneuvers on our safe little city streets.

My morning drive takes me down a busy street, 3 lanes each way and a turn lane. Always pretty packed at 7:45am (oh, who am I kidding - I rarely even leave the house until 7:55!), several signal lights, but still averaging speeds of 45-55 in between. But this morning this maniac shot by me at what must have been close to 90. Cars were throwing on their brakes to avoid him. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten hit anyway, but I think we're all a little concerned about being responsible for taking the guy out.

All these crashes appear to be on tracks, but I can only imagine the kind of injuries the driver is looking at (if he lives!) if he knicked another car and got launched into a pole or just flat got hit and mangled by all the passing cars that couldn't stop (don't you remember the lesson in driver's ed which states it is better to just go ahead and hit the dog/raccoon/deer/maniac, than to slam on your brakes, lose control, and cause an even bigger wreck?!)

Last week, a guy was charged with two counts of reckless driving in my court and given probation. He told the judge that the night of the first incident he was driving 137 in a 45 MPH zone. The second arrest was only 5 days later, 142 in a 55 MPH. Un-freaking-believable.

The guy no longer has his CR, or so he told the judge, so hopefully he wasn't the one racing down my street this morning. But I just don't get it. What kind of rush does that kind of speed and danger give a person, and why doesn't the fear of death or paralysis squelch that rush?