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Boy Racers and Influencing their Behaviour. Dr Karen Lumsden Department of Social Sciences Email: K.Lumsden@lboro.ac.uk Twitter: @karenlumsden2. Overview. Ethnographic research with ‘boy racer’ culture in city of Aberdeen, Scotland. Interested in both: - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Boy Racers and Influencing their
BehaviourDr Karen Lumsden
Department of Social SciencesEmail: K.Lumsden@lboro.ac.uk
Twitter: @karenlumsden2
Overview
• Ethnographic research with ‘boy racer’ culture in city of Aberdeen, Scotland. Interested in both:• The boy racer culture (rituals, participation, gender, class)• The response of society (police, politicians, media, local community)
• Background to Aberdeen’s ‘Bouley Bashers’• Police and local authority response• The myth of the ‘boy racer’• Lessons learned for RSOs from police response to the
drivers in Aberdeen:• Use of ASB legislation• Education
Background: Aberdeen’s ‘Bouley Bashers’• Car culture at Aberdeen’s
Beach Boulevard since late 1960s
• Urban regeneration from 1990s onwards
• Community concern• Proliferation of local and
national media articles on Aberdeen’s ‘boy racers’ (peaked 2004/5)
Media Representation‘For more than 30 years they’ve been at it – speeding recklessly up and down the Beach Boulevard. In that time the leisure complex has grown massively and become a magnet for families. But that hasn’t stopped the madness of the boy racers – or led to the authorities driving them off the roads’
(Press & Journal 2002)
Police and Local Authority Response
• Police operations• CCTV• Redesigned road layout• Education via road safety
events• Grampian Police ‘Drivers’
Group’• Provision of alternative spaces
(i.e. ‘park and ride’ car parks)• ASB legislation: seizure of
vehicles and dispersal orders
The Myth of the ‘Boy Racer’
• Importance of car modification for individual and collective identity
• Driving performances allow individuals to gain celebrity status
• Growing number of girls participate although still largely male, working-class subculture
• Not all youths, also older drivers• Challenges myths around what a
‘boy racer’ is:• > Majority took pride in driving skills and
cars
The ‘Drivers’ Group’ and Self-Policing
• Grampian Police ‘Drivers’ Group’ successful as a way of information sharing between police/community and drivers
• The drivers also engaged in their own informal policing re. ‘how to behave’ in the culture
• Informal rules and expectations which members were expected to adhere to (i.e. parking on ‘trammers’ and not beside the flats, not speeding/racing)
Lessons for RSOs: ASB Powers
• In case of Aberdeen’s boy racers, ASB powers were only successful in the short term
• Long term implications – stigmatized group and impacted negatively on police-driver relations
• Tension between successful consensual management of young drivers..
• And enforcement-led approaches reflected via use of ASB legislation
• More education needed on regulations and best-practice for car modification
Lessons for RSOs: Driver Education
• Focus on education and interaction via community policing – must extend to roads policing
• ‘Drivers’ Group’ particularly successful as a way of information sharing between police and drivers
• Recognition of the myth of the ‘boy racer’ or street racer – not always young drivers…
What does the term ‘boy racer’ mean?
‘Well it’s stereotypical. Isn’t it? I guess by their definition I typically am [a ‘boy racer’] but then what does the term mean? I am, but I don’t really race. In fact, not that I don’t really race, I never have raced! Most people who come down here aren’t racers either. It’s just a few idiots who spoil it for the rest of us.’
(Interview with Robert)
Further Information
• Access publications via webpage: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/socialsciences/staff/lumsden-karen.html
• Or email me directly: K.Lumsden@lboro.ac.uk
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