Packard
Member
One of the TV stations was having a marathon of “Fugitives on Tape”. These are high speed chases recorded live (but watched taped). They can be pretty exciting. I recorded 7 or 8 of the shows. I’ve watched 5 over the last week and a half.
If I find it exciting to watch, the cops in the chase cars have to be in adrenaline overload.
Some observations.
When I was a kid, the cops were not allowed to initiate a chase for minor traffic infractions. So if you failed to signal, or did not come to a complete stop, the cop could light you up with his cherry lights, but not chase you.
All that is changed. In once case, the cop chased a car for not having the license plate light working. They hit speeds up up to 150 miles per hour (the fastest I’ve seen on the shows). The cop initiated a PIT maneuver and the car flipped over several times. No serious injuries, but I suspect they don’t broadcast those chases.
A PIT maneuver (Precision Immobilization Technique) involves using the front fender of a cop car to nudge the side of the chased car. To be effective contact needs to be behind or even with the chased car’s rear wheel. The technique was devised in the early 1980s and was considered relatively safe. But then Bosch and Mercedes in Germany, conspired to make it far less safe.
Mercedes, with the assistance of Bosch created the Advanced Stability Systems. I believe that most modern cars now have some version of that system and in normal use, it makes the car much safer. But when a PIT maneuver is applied, it makes spinning out the fleeing vehicle much more difficult, and seems to result in an awful lot of flipped cars (judging from the TV videos).
To justify the high speed chases, they have made it a felony to flee at high speeds.
Now, it is likely that there are reasons other than the failure to signal that prompted the eluding. But the police have no probable cause for that (whatever “that” turns out to be).
At the end of each chase, they list the criminal charges the driver faces. Very often it is the minor offense that prompted the chase, and a charge of “aggravated eluding”. So the only serious part of the charges are those that the police initiated.
Another technique they use is “spike strips” which will flatten the tires. The spikes are hollow so presumably no blowouts, just a slow loss of air pressure. It does turn out to be pretty dangerous.
Interestingly, the most anti-climatic chase ended when a GM vehicle was involved and it had subscribed to ONSTAR. The cops called ONSTAR and they gradually slowed the vehicle to a stop.
I think, if there were an effective way to puncture the radiator on the fleeing vehicle, it would do much the same thing. None of my ideas on that seem feasible though.
In any case, a risk vs. benefit analysis by the police might be in order.
Note; Those chases sometimes yield prosecutable cases for serious matters. But again, without any probable cause to believe there was a crime, what is their justification.
I think the “justification” might be influenced by the adrenaline rush the chasing cops must experience.
If I find it exciting to watch, the cops in the chase cars have to be in adrenaline overload.
Some observations.
When I was a kid, the cops were not allowed to initiate a chase for minor traffic infractions. So if you failed to signal, or did not come to a complete stop, the cop could light you up with his cherry lights, but not chase you.
All that is changed. In once case, the cop chased a car for not having the license plate light working. They hit speeds up up to 150 miles per hour (the fastest I’ve seen on the shows). The cop initiated a PIT maneuver and the car flipped over several times. No serious injuries, but I suspect they don’t broadcast those chases.
A PIT maneuver (Precision Immobilization Technique) involves using the front fender of a cop car to nudge the side of the chased car. To be effective contact needs to be behind or even with the chased car’s rear wheel. The technique was devised in the early 1980s and was considered relatively safe. But then Bosch and Mercedes in Germany, conspired to make it far less safe.
Mercedes, with the assistance of Bosch created the Advanced Stability Systems. I believe that most modern cars now have some version of that system and in normal use, it makes the car much safer. But when a PIT maneuver is applied, it makes spinning out the fleeing vehicle much more difficult, and seems to result in an awful lot of flipped cars (judging from the TV videos).
To justify the high speed chases, they have made it a felony to flee at high speeds.
Now, it is likely that there are reasons other than the failure to signal that prompted the eluding. But the police have no probable cause for that (whatever “that” turns out to be).
At the end of each chase, they list the criminal charges the driver faces. Very often it is the minor offense that prompted the chase, and a charge of “aggravated eluding”. So the only serious part of the charges are those that the police initiated.
Another technique they use is “spike strips” which will flatten the tires. The spikes are hollow so presumably no blowouts, just a slow loss of air pressure. It does turn out to be pretty dangerous.
Interestingly, the most anti-climatic chase ended when a GM vehicle was involved and it had subscribed to ONSTAR. The cops called ONSTAR and they gradually slowed the vehicle to a stop.
I think, if there were an effective way to puncture the radiator on the fleeing vehicle, it would do much the same thing. None of my ideas on that seem feasible though.
In any case, a risk vs. benefit analysis by the police might be in order.
Note; Those chases sometimes yield prosecutable cases for serious matters. But again, without any probable cause to believe there was a crime, what is their justification.
I think the “justification” might be influenced by the adrenaline rush the chasing cops must experience.
