You Down With SUV? (Yeah, You Know Me!)

Philip Klein blogs about ghost riding, "the latest trend among stupid suburban teenagers in which they put their car in neutral, let it pick up moderate speed, and dance on the hood and roof of the moving vehicle." Which sounds… awesome. Assuming these kids are as stupid as they are rich and have dentist moms and dads who pay for the fire hydrants they destroy. (I think this is a safe assumption.)

There's a YouTube miscellany of ghost riding vids here, but YouTube is so 2006. Who's going to star in the inevitable exploitation flick (Mad Ghost Style) that'll be adapted from the fad? I mean, besides Kevin Federline?

Comments

[Pat]

Somewhere there is a politician racking his brain to come up with a law that would:

a) Do nothing to actually prevent such stupidity
b) Violate our civil liberties in the process

But at least he's doing something!

[David Weigel]

Pat - Let me predict the solution. A law to install computer chips in ever car which stop the engine when they don't sense someone behind the wheel.

Hey, that can be the plot of Mad Ghost Style! Or its sequel, Mad Ghost Stylez.

[steveintheknow]

2 Ghost, 2 Furious - Bi Curious

[Warren]

Didn't the Elvisless Michael J Fox already do this?

[Pat]

Didn't the Elvisless Michael J Fox already do this?

Kinda, but Stiles was driving the Wolfmobile!

[Mo]

Usually you get the car to pick up speed before you put it in neutral.

[Taktix]

David,

Of course, these chips would NEVER be used for any other purpose, right?

This reminds me that I heard a few days ago that Toyota is installing GPS devices standard in all 2008 models. Did anyone else hear this? I caught the end of a radio news blurb and don't know the details.

[mike in ftw]

Warren, is that a Mojo Nixon throwback?

You can tell Karen Tandy that I aint gone to piss in no jar.

mike in fort worth

[Tym]

This is the stupidest fuckin thing I have ever heard of.

Somewhere there is a politician racking his brain to come up with a law that would:

How about banning stupidity?

These kids are probably swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool, at least it will tend to breed them out.

[Guy Montag]

Pat - Let me predict the solution. A law to install computer chips in ever car which stop the engine when they don't sense someone behind the wheel.

Similar to the switches from the 1970s that would prevent starting the vehicle if all people (and groceries) in the passenger compartment were not buckled up?

[stuartl]

This reminds me that I heard a few days ago that Toyota is installing GPS devices standard in all 2008 models.

Taktix, I don't know this for sure, but they may just be making navigation systems standard.

[Paul]

Assuming these kids are as stupid as they are rich and have dentist moms and dads who pay for the fire hydrants they destroy. (I think this is a safe assumption.)

Or run over my four year old playing in the front yard. The upside of that would be that they'd never find the drivers body...

[P Brooks]

This reminds me of the Great Elevator Surfing Scare.

Is this sort of Darwin Award bid preceded, perchance, by a gin guzzling frenzy?

[Billy K]

I hate to be the guy always saying this, but this was cool a year ago. I saw them pick up the story on CNN a few days ago and I laughed at how long it took them to notice this "trend." It's all over YouTube, and has been for a long, long time.

(P.S. Bonus points for the Mojo reference.)

[kevrob]

Besides Teen Wolf "car surfing" was popular in that no-dancing town in Footloose. Maybe Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer could play the Concerned Parents in the new anti-GR film.

Kevin

[Timothy]

I remember seeing something on 20/20 about "car surfing" when I was in high school.

[Umbriel]

The major evolution of "ghost riding" from "car surfing" is that the surfer does it solo, with no one at the wheel -- another sad commentary on our increasingly insular, "Bowling Alone" society.

[JohnCjackson3]

I prefer to do a lot of things alone. Surfing on a car isn't one of them. Friends dont let friends surf ghost.

[d_kaptain]

The leaders of tomorrow. Our future Senators and Congressmen. So full of hope and promise.

--SLAM--

Never mind.

[jkp]

What kind of fuck-os are these kids?

[mindless]

This could have been resolved with the introduction of the same deadman's switch you see on riding lawnmowers and other powered vehicles. Not only would it prevent so-called "ghost riders", but if you attune it right, it would also prevent kids and anorexic ditzy stars from driving.

[Paul]

This could have been resolved with the introduction of the same deadman's switch you see on riding lawnmowers and other powered vehicles.

Nah, just a rubber suction cup thingy that sticks to your forehead and measures your IQ. Unfortunately (or fortunately), far more than these teenagers would be kept from driving. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

[creech]

LOL d-kaptian. The funniest part of "Animal House" was at the end where you find out Blutarsky is now a Senator.

[jf]

Pat - Let me predict the solution. A law to install computer chips in ever car which stop the engine when they don't sense someone behind the wheel.

As far as laws go, a "deadman's switch" to cut off the engine and engage the brakes when the driver's seat is empty isn't the worst idea I've ever heard.

[Ryan]

I used to do something similar. In high school, I would ride on the roof of my buddy's VW GTI where he would crack open the sunroof so I had a grip point. Fastest I went was about 45 though I would have been likely killed at any speed with an accident.

I stopped doing so after an incident where he used the brakes a little too quickly and I flew onto the hood barely grabbing the hinge edge of the hood before I slid off the car(TJ Hooker style)

Ahhh youth.

[Foxxy Love]

If you root around on YouTube, you can find clips of kids trying to ghost ride the whip, and not even succeeding. E.g. the car goes right into a telephone pole, or a bystander jumps into the empty driver's seat and steals the vehicle out from under its owner.

[TCR]

Check this one out. Priceless!

[M]

Federally mandate external seatbelts; problem solved!

[sage]

I've heard of pilots doing this on the wings of their plane...ghost riders in the sky.

[jf]

TCR,

That is awesome. Possible set up, but looked legit to me.

[Phil]

Philip Klein got it wrong: just put the car in drive and let it creep. No need for neutral.

My group of friends used to call it "yachting," but it was before the craze and YouTube, so we're obviously much hipper than these kids.

[kevrob]

sage: A Stan Jones reference!

Nick Cage isn't going to be the real Ghost Rider!

Kevin

[Josh]

They even have a song for it:

"Ghost Ride It" by Mistah Fab

It's quite catchy I must say

[Russ R]

Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost rider requesting a flyby.

Air Boss: That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full.

[Jon H]

Next thing the kids will be having gay sex with YOUR kids on the roof while it's moving, without a driver.

This must be stopped.

[Jon H]

Or, worse, ghost riding late-term abortions.

I tell ya, it's coming. It'll probably be a video game first, Grand Theft Fetus

[Bobster]

When parents forget and drive off with their infant in a car seat on the roof maybe they didn't forget. Maybe they are giving the kid a head start in the new Olympic sport of Ghost Riding?

[John C. Randolph]

As much as I would applaud these kids removing themselves from the gene pool in this manner, there is a legitimate public interest in stopping this activity, because it places innocent parties at risk, too. I would consider it quite appropriate though, if the penalty for this infraction was a hard smack upside the head, coupled with some form of lasting public humiliation.

-jcr