"Speed" in and of itself does not kill. If that were true, then why are not all racing car drivers dead?
The reason is because they are well trained, drive safe vehicles, surrounded by equally well trained drivers in equally safe cars, and they spend every second concentrating on the job at hand.
I am not for a moment suggesting we should all race around the streets, however, it helps me make my point. Speed doesn't kill, it is the combination of several factors that contribute to most traffic incidents. Lack of concentration, risky maneouvres, drink driving, fatigue, and not driving to the conditions would make up the majority of those. Combining speed with any of those things will increase both the risk and severity of an incident, however it would never be the sole cause. In fact, i would argue that spending 1 in every 5 seconds behind the wheel checking your speed is far more dangerous than being, say, 10% above the speed limit - but people are so shit-scared of being fined or being condemned to hell for speeding that they will do the former.
Obviously street racing and driving outside of a "reasonable" tolerance of the speed limit is stupid and incredibly dangerous and I certainly don't endorse people speeding, however i believe that focusing all of the media & police attention at fining people for speeding and telling people speed kills is a seriously misguided and condescending policy. They are simply "dumbing it down for the people." If you choose to buy into that falicy, then you're insulting your own intelligence.
As for young blokes taking stupid risks, to be honest, that will never change. I see myself to now be a very responsible and mature young (mid 20's) guy, however I did some remarkably stupid things when I was a teenager. I would not even think about doing those things these days, and I actually think that I play down the stupidity in my own mind to make myself feel less stupid. Good people do stupid things, it is a very sad truth, but I honestly don't think that will ever change, it is a chemical imbalance in a young male's brain. The difference between being young and foolish, and just plain stupid, is that everyone makes mistakes, the smart people learn from them and grow up, the truly stupid continue making them... The heart wrenching reality of it all is that some will never get the chance to learn from their mistakes.