Road Safety and Car Surfing

Safety campaigners' outcry at 'car surfing' craze

Publisher: Ian Morgan
Published: 16/10/2006 - 14:49:37 PM \\
Berrow beach near Burnham-on-Sea

Safety campaigners have today criticised youths taking part in a new stunt craze which involves "surfing" on the top of a moving car.

Footage has been posted on the internet of youngsters "car surfing" on a beach in Somerset.

The video shows two youths balancing on the roof of a moving white car without anyone driving the vehicle.

The video clip is believed to have been filmed at Berrow beach, near Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.

The craze came to light when a Berrow resident contacted the authorities after finding the footage while using the internet search engine Google.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) today condemned the craze.

A spokeswoman said: "Car surfing is clearly dangerous and we have concerns that such behaviour can lead to injuries.

"Not only does it put those at risk who are climbing on top of a moving and uncontrolled car but also other members of the public who might be in the area at the time.''

The "car surfing" craze is thought to have originated in America.

Wow what a hard subject to cover, my personal beliefs would just leed me to believe these people are idiots.

And if I were to go along with the behavioural modification approach that the rest of road safety is following like sheep I would say increase the penalties.

But it's obvious in this day and age where the kids feel hopless and look for more and more outlandish (and dangerous) activities to take their minds from the hoplessness.

We see it with drugs, and the move from relatively harmless drugs such as marijuana to more potent and deadly drugs such as GBH.

So how can we do anything about car surfing?

Personally it's a pretty hard one to address if I don't focuss on behaviour!

But we could start by having vehicles that cannot move without someone in the driver seat! Ride on mowers and the like already have these limit switches in the seat so it wouldn't be too hard to design them into vehicles. But I would believe these kids would overide them anyway but it would stop the spur of the moment actions by the youth.

Second we could make available venues that the kids could undertake these activities in a controlled environment, this would be especially benificial to spectators and keep them safe at least. But also with a controlled environment we could also require them to wear safety equipment such as helmuts, body armour and guarding around the wheels of the car as well as skirting around the car to stop anyone that falls from getting dragged under the vehicle.

I don't think we will stop this insane craze but at least we could address some of the risks and reduce them significantly. Another option for car designers is to have sensors in the roof of the car which when detecting the weight of a person on top would stop the vehicle from operating.

But then if we follow the trend of the safety boffins and focuss on behaviour then we won't save any lives just make some polititians happy that blame is focussed on someone other than themselves.

Regards
Daniel