Street Dangers Aren't Confined to the Dark of Night

Along Indian Head Highway in Accokeek, flowers have been left to mark the deaths of eight people who were watching an early-morning street race Saturday. (By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)
Buy Photo

A side street between the parking lot and the highway allows racers to line up before rolling out to the starting line. From there, drivers have more than two uninterrupted miles of asphalt to run a quarter-mile race.

Spectators watch from the shoulder as racers take off, after which they sometimes wander out of the tire smoke and into the street for a better view.

That's when a passing motorist seemed to have come out of nowhere and hit those who were standing in the street. Brown paper bags, bottles, shoes and body parts were strewed all over the place. The car hit one spectator so hard that he ended up inside, leading police to believe at first that he had been a passenger.

You'd think fans and racers would just rent a night at Maryland International Raceway at Budds Creek.

But, as my friend told me, "It's more fun just to go out and do it." Reminds me of a tag line to a movie from the street-racing franchise "The Fast and the Furious": "If you ain't outta control, you ain't in control."

The reality, of course, is quite different. A lot of drivers are out of control, especially along Indian Head Highway. And there are no ifs about it.

E-mailmilloyc@washpost.com