[True_Moose]

Well, I can personally say that putting in HP restrictions wouldn't work. I drive a 1993 Nissan Axxess with 130 HP, that can hit 130-140 no problem. As soon as I slam into a moderately fast car at that speed, I'd be dead. Luckily, I am not as bad a driver as my age group (I am 16) is made out to be.

I've been really annoyed recently, at how often I've seen police busting people for going 10-20 kph over the speed limit in residential zones, not totally stopping at stop signs, etc. I have almost been in extremely high speed crashes twice, neither of which was my fault (Calgary has some of the worst drivers ever) and yet never were there any police around to ticket these guys, one of whom was going at least 140 kphs, and who forced his way into an inappropriately sized space. I suspect that if there was more presence on major roadways, rather than residential sidestreets, which are often too short and curved to be used for racing, we would see much fewer accidents.

As for the cars...I don't think that it's necessarily the power of the car; in a few months, I will be purchasing an Eagle Talon TSI, which is a fast car: I feel perfectly confident and safe driving it. The problem is, many of the kids who have these cars' parents are totally inept at punishing them. They pay for the tickets, repair the car, even help the kid keep it off the record. The kid gets off (basically) scot-free, and is ready to do it again. My best friend goes to school with a kid who totalled a Grand Cherokee his first week driving, was given a Miata, totalled that within two months, and then was given a Jeep. What kind of message does that send to the kid? There are no consequences. 90% of these drivers would be warned off once they have to spend that McDonald's paycheck when they ran the red light. When people start parenting, kids will stop being so destructive.