With teen alcohol consumption on the rise, the phrase “smart, safe and sober” runs rampant through the halls of Barnstable High School. And with countless videos from drivers ed, the phrases “don’t drink and drive” and “don’t text and drive” have been drilled into our brains as ways of highlighting the dangers of teenage driving. But has anyone ever told you to “never drag race?” Driving under the influence certainly isn’t something that is glamorized, but why does society glamorize drag racing?

Over the past few years, BHS has held powerful assemblies simulating mock crashes, as well as having promoted Distractology 101 at the beginning of this school year. But both of these programs only dealt with the dangers of driving under the influence, and texting while driving. Drag racing is under-publicized in our school, and in life. It’s time our students became better informed on how fatal drag racing can be, especially because the average racer is just 16-21 years old.

Our generation goes through a long, tedious, process to receive a drivers license. Between the 30 classroom hours, 12 driving hours, and six observing hours (let alone the high cost of it all), getting a driver’s license is a major stepping stone in life. But breaking the law for drag racing, especially while on your JOL, can have serious consequences. So why are people willing to throw away the hard work they’ve put into earning  their license for a dangerous experience like drag racing?

For junior operators, a first offense for drag racing can result in a one year suspension, a $500 fee, having to take a new learner’s permit exam and road test, and even a Driver Attitudinal Retraining course. All of that for a first offense. Drag racing is not worth it and never will be. As brutal as those penalties seem, taking your own life or the life of a friend or stranger is even worse. Death or serious injuries can cause a heavy weight on your shoulders that cannot be lifted.

On February 23, former BHS student Michael Lawrence died while drag racing one of his best friends, Adrian Sterling. This tragedy needs to serve as an eye-opener to not only BHS students, but to society as a whole that drag racing is no less of a danger than drunk driving or texting and driving. In a recent comment from our Facebook story on Michael Lawrence, BHS graduate Devin Broadley replied, “How many more students or alumni must we lose before Barnstable takes action on educating its students on safe and responsible driving?”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 153 people were killed in 122 crashes while racing between 2001 and 2010. Under that statistic, a crash is considered “racing involved” only if police charge at least one driver with racing. Previously, crashes were considered racing if investigators concluded that racing was involved, which according to an article from USA Today means that there were 1,047 racing deaths from 2001 to 2008. While no national statistics on the occurrence of drag racing exist, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, about 100 people in California alone die annually and over 50,000 drivers from California have pleaded guilty to drag racing over the course of the past decade.

In the DMV manual, there is a chart of penalties regarding drag racing. It seems to be the permit question everyone hopes they don’t get. And because people don’t pay attention to these laws, they don’t realize the consequences.

Popular films like the Fast and Furious movies and Need for Speed all glorify drag racing. Video games and even song lyrics are guilty of this, too. According to CNN.com, Fast and Furious star Paul Walker died in November of 2013 while speeding over 100 mph in a Porsche that crashed and set on fire. “Speeding” in a movie is not the same as reality. In the country song “Hell Raisin’ Heat of the Summer” by Florida Georgia Line, the lyrics say, “on a Friday night joyride out there on the county line drag racin’ ‘til the blue lights chase us.” Drag racing shouldn’t be promoted as something as minute as a “joyride.”

People constantly make bad choices. Sadly, that’s life. And of course, we don’t expect anyone to be perfect, but don’t make bad choices that can be fatal to not only yourself, but to someone else; perhaps someone who took the time to read the drivers ed manual; someone who cared.