Another Drag Racing Tragedy

A high school student was killed and a pregnant woman and three others were left in critical condition Tuesday after what police say was a head-on collision resulting from a drag race in Miami.
When Miami police officers and Miami Fire Rescue arrived, Tavares Jones, 19, the passenger of a gray Ford Mustang was clinically dead after his car plowed into a light blue Lincoln Town Car. Paramedics revived Jones, but he died later at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Pieces from the front portions of both cars were scattered at Northwest 17th Avenue and 51st Street.
Detective Delrish Moss, a Miami Police spokesman, said about 2:40 p.m., a 1988 Mustang and a 1989 orange Chevrolet were speeding north on Northwest 17th Avenue when Howard Lee Samuel, the Mustang's driver, switched to the southbound lane to get ahead of the Chevrolet. At the same time, Sabrina Sweeney, of Fort Lauderdale, and two other Fort Lauderdale women in the Lincoln were heading south on 17th Avenue. Moss said both cars tried to avoid each other, but failed.
"That Lincoln just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," Moss said, adding that the Lincoln's driver was pregnant.
Moss said when the Chevrolet's driver saw the accident, he stopped and came back to see what happened to Samuel, 23, and Jones. Traffic homicide detectives took the unidentified driver to their station where they were questioning him late Tuesday night.
Several witnesses told police both cars were drag racing.
The Lincoln is registered to Charles E. Anderson, of Fort Lauderdale. A woman who answered the phone at Anderson's home refused to comment.
Alicia Thomas, who said she is Jones' cousin, said many family members had been concerned by Samuel's drag racing. Just Monday, another cousin was telling Jones he shouldn't be hanging out with Samuel because he was putting his life in danger, she said.
"If he took heed, he would have been seeing Sam by himself on the news," Thomas said.
She said the two would race through the neighborhood without giving much regard for children playing in the neighborhood. She said Jones' sister was saving money to put her brother through college when he graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School.
Moss said no one has been charged, but both Samuel and the Chevrolet's driver could face vehicular manslaughter charges, which can carry up to five years in prison.
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I really don't understand why this happens all too often now. I admit that when I was younger I used to drag race all the time. Heck, I did it for over ten years, and in all that time I never saw or personally did any of the stupid stuff that kids are doing today. Driving into oncoming traffic? What the heck is that!
Now that I am older, and perhaps wiser, I realize how pointless drag racing is and I know that only comes with age and maturity, but I really don't understand why this happens all too often today when it never happened when I was doing it.
You certainly can't blame the speed of the cars. I had a 12 second Camaro that was my daily driver and there were plenty of other fast cars too, and we would never do the stuff that is being done today. I am not trying to justify what I used to do, but why do kids today kill other people and themselves so often? How did they get so reckless?
I know I am ranting and raving, but I would just love to know why!



[Modified by VeeDubDriver, 8:54 AM 2-6-2002]