I've gone 180 before, on a deserted freeway at about 2:30. I just wanted to get home, but there was also the element of wanting to beat my mate's car. I'm not sure if it's just a guy thing, or whether it's just a personal competitive thing, but it's fun. I'm not saying it's OK or that I will ever do it again, because it's not and I probably won't, but it is understandable. I think the real issue is making young drivers skilled enough that when they inevitably do speed or come across someone speeding, or get in the car with someone that is gonna speed, they know how to handle it. The desire to speed can't be legislated against, or the desire to look cool, and so a different way has to be found to deal with it. Make driver training courses compulsory for all L and P platers, make driver education a bigger part of the PE curriculum at schools, reinforce the idea that speeding is a fucking stupid thing to do.
The bottom line is, as I see it, that some people will do stupid things no matter what, so we have to make sure that they and others are well enough equiped to deal with speeding when it happens. And a curfew is not the way to do that.
And Argonaut, I'm pretty sure that Dave was demonstrating the type of cars usually involved in high-speed crashes, not any sort of regret that they'd been crashed. It'd be like saying the crash involved a hotted-up excel - it's not the car that's important, it's the attitude of the owner that that type of car demonstrates. At least, that's how I read the comment.