My brother and his friend did something similar. They stuffed a dummy, got a long rope and tied one end around the dummy’s neck. Then they climbed into a tree with the dummy and threw it over a tall branch which overhung into the street below. They kept the rope taut so that the dummy was suspended high in the tree and then climbed down and waited until they saw an unsuspecting car approach. As the car approached, they would let the rope go. The dummy would fall out of the tree and crash onto the unsuspecting car below, looking amazingly like a person when it landed on the windshield.
Hysterical, no?
After several botched attempts, they finally perfected the timing and the dummy landed square on a woman’s windshield as she drove by.
Hahahahahahhaha.
After nearly killing herself swerving to avoid the dummy and screeching to a halt, they discovered (much to their amazement) that the victim did not find the incident the least bit amusing. She kept calling for them to come out, which they declined to do. Finally, pissed beyond words, she threw the dummy in her car and drove off. My brother remembers being mad about this because although they had used dad’s old work clothes to make the dummy, they had used his good belt. And he knew that come Sunday, he’d have to lie about seeing dad’s belt and he’d feel bad about lying.
Anyway, seeing the woman load the dummy into her car, my brother and his friend figured the night’s entertainment was over and mosied on home. Little did he know that the victim would be so highly disturbed and pissed about the incident that she would return to the scene of the crime and proceed to go door to door, dummy in hand, to find the teenage boys. It didn’t take long for one of our neighbors to recognize my dad’s work shirt…in part perhaps because his name was embroidered on the pocket…
That particular week Dad didn’t wait til Sunday to use his good belt.
When teenage boys do this, they are idiots. Teenage boys are idiots, quite frequently. Howeve, I think an incident I witnessed was maybe even worse, because it involved COLLEGE STUDENTS! And a FREAKIN VIDEO CAMERA!! I was working a fund-raising concession stand in front of Wal-Mart, when 3 FSU students started, not only dodging in front of rather fast-moving cars, but video taping the whole fucking thing!! Now, I realize this may have been some kind of initiation stunt or maybe even a class project (EMT’s in training, perhaps, looking for “real” people to practice CPR on?). But still, you would hope by the time a kid is college-age they would know better!
There was just a show on about this phenomenon the other night–Dateline or 20/20 or something. Videotaping one’s idiotic and often criminal exploits is the in-thing now, apparently. People are videotaping each other punching, hitting, and throwing things at innocent bystanders, motorists, and cyclists; setting cars on fire, and so forth. It certainly does make strong evidence when the buggers are finally caught, but it doesn’t begin to make up for all the lunacy and mayhem.
I know that behaviour like this is typical of young, hyperactive teenage boys (read, “fucking morons.”), and there’s really not much we can do about it.
Even so, some things just don’t help.
Just for the record, the kids that did this to me were definitely pre-pubescent, and obviously too young to ever have driven. I’m pretty sure they have no idea why scaring a driver into thinking they were going to a kid was a bad idea. That’s why my OP was a plea to parents of kids in this age group; sit them down and tell them why scaring drivers is a bad idea, cause they really don’t get it. You wouldn’t think this would be one of the things you have to teach your kids, but apparently, it is.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone came along with this axe to grind.
None of the Jackass stunts endanger anyone but the idiots performing them. They also make a point to encourage kids not to try to imitate them (disclaimers before and after the feature). Dumb kids have been doing dumb things since long before Jackass appeared (where do you think they came up with the idea?). If the Jackass influence has had any effect at all, it’s merely to increase the proportion of dumb kids out there that are tape-recording their damnfool stunts.
Yes, it’s all the fault of TV. Oh, and don’t forget video games and violent cartoons! It certainly isn’t because they’re just dumbassed kids or have shitty home training. Can’t be that.
I’m not denying thaat kids have been idiots since before Jackass. Criminy! They’ve been idiots since before TV! When I was that age, I was an idiot, you betcha. And I am most emphatically not in the “media influences our children, so let’s replace all programming with Little House on the Prairie reruns” camp.
My personal views on what is responsible for irresponsible acts notwithstanding, despite all of the disclaimers (which work, by the way, about as well as the warnings on cigarette packs), Jackass has brought idiotic behaviour to the forefront, and makes it look cooler. And profitable. "Hey! You mean I can run across a busy street at rush hour completely naked and make money doing it? Wicked! (yes, that was hyperbole. but only just)
Personally, I’m all for culling the herd. If kids want to imitate this show/movie, I’m all for it. As long as they don’t dent my fenders, that is. That’s why I make a point to slow down and keep an eye on the sidewalks when there are kids around.
Actually, I was one of these stupid kids. I used to to pretend to cross just when a car was coming, but to run right away in front of the car across the road. I assume that if I’m still alive and in one piece, it’s because most people have good reflexes. Actually, it wasn’t to make fun of the driver but a kind of bravado.
Of course that was strategically a major error…contrarily to you, I was brought up in a very small village where everybody knew everybody, so I couldn’t rely on anonymity. Still, I went on doing that…
(Ironically, I was actually hit by a car as a child while crossing a road when I wasn’t paying attention, not when I was deliberatly trying to cross in front of it…)
What can I say? Kids act stupidely, and there’s not much parents can actually do. Most wouldn’t even suspect what stupid and dangerous things they children are doing, so how could they warn them against that?
I tend to think that passer-by noticing this sort of things should react and at least scold the kids, but that also is the result of my upbringing in a little place where adults were expected to keep an eye on any child, and wouldn’t hesitate to react even when they didn’t know the kid. But of course, most of us now live in a different and urban word where even looking at a strange kid or talking to him/her is considered suspect, so it seems there’s no much room left for adults to react to idiotic/dangerous behaviors…
Well, I used to do this as a kid. Until one day, a random, stearn-talking adult pulled over and gave me fifteen different kinds of hell for it. Never did it again. I don’t know if these kids would have been impressed, but it couldn’t have hurt to try.
See, I hear stories of kids pulling stupid shit like this, and I think back on all the stupid shit my friends and I used to do, and I’m amazed any of us lived past the age of 16.
Call the superintendent of schools for your area. Give him/her the location of the incident, the approximate age of the kids involved, and explain exactly what happened. If he’s/she’s worth his/her salt, he/she will have the teachers in his/her district give extremely stern lectures to their little darlings, possibly arrange for law enforcement to give an assembly on road safety, and send some notes home advising parents of this little “game” before someone gets hurt.
sigh You work and work to keep them safe and whole and as soon as they’re out of your sight they do their damndest to mangle themselves…
Why?