Almost another police chase fatality

[MikeL]

At 11:30 or thereabouts I was happily pootling along the Southern Motorway, minding my own business and checking out the performance, comfort and general user-friendliness of a bike which Haldanes had cheerfully and perhaps foolishly entrusted to my care. I flick on the indicator and start to move into the left lane, preparing to exit at Mt Wellington, when suddenly out of nowhere a white Honda Prelude (?) overtakes me on the left doing at least 140 and no more than a foot and a half from me. Instinctively I swerve to the right to avoid being hit. The white car vanishes into the distance as I try to recover my composure. Glancing in the mirror I see flashing red and blue lights. A couple of seconds later the first cop car flashes past in the left lane, doing 140 or more. Followed shortly thereafter by a second pursuit vehicle. Then a third. Then a fourth. A brief pause, then numbers 5 and 6.
I look up to see the police helicopter joining in the fun of the chase.
All very exciting. But a bit too close for comfort. A slight miscalculation on the part of the errant driver and I would have been history.
Makes you think...

Post-script: a lesson in taking too much for granted:
After the aforementioned incident, assuming that 6 patrol cars in hot pursuit of a an obviously die-hard criminal had used up all available resources and effectively removed all likelihood of being targetted for minor indiscretions such as slightly exceeding the speed limit, I decided to continue on the motorway and "open 'er up" a little, just to test the acceleration, you see. Successful experiment concluded, I was happily winding down when I noticed some more blue and red flashing lights, which subsequent events proved to be an unmarked patrol car.
To cut a long story short, I accepted culpability, grovelled shamelessly, and got let off with a warning.
To have survived two potentially serious encounters in the space of a few minutes I took as a good omen.
I bought the bike.

[Slim]

Good luck indeed! :cool:

And the bike is ... ?????

[Ghost Lemur]

Congrats on surviving your close calls, and getting a new bike MikeL. When do we get pix?

[pete376403]

Time to buy a lotto ticket

[LB]

And you still haven't let us off our tenterhooks by telling us what the new bike is!!!!

[Jackrat]

Not almost,After leaving the motoway the cops pulled off the chase but the nutter still crashed an killed him self.Go buy a Lotto ticket mate.

[wkid_one]

At 11:30 or thereabouts I was happily pootling along the Southern Motorway, minding my own business and checking out the performance, comfort and general user-friendliness of a bike which Haldanes had cheerfully and perhaps foolishly entrusted to my care. I flick on the indicator and start to move into the left lane, preparing to exit at Mt Wellington, when suddenly out of nowhere a white Honda Prelude (?) overtakes me on the left doing at least 140 and no more than a foot and a half from me. Instinctively I swerve to the right to avoid being hit. The white car vanishes into the distance as I try to recover my composure. Glancing in the mirror I see flashing red and blue lights. A couple of seconds later the first cop car flashes past in the left lane, doing 140 or more. Followed shortly thereafter by a second pursuit vehicle. Then a third. Then a fourth. A brief pause, then numbers 5 and 6.
I look up to see the police helicopter joining in the fun of the chase.
All very exciting. But a bit too close for comfort. A slight miscalculation on the part of the errant driver and I would have been history.
Makes you think...

Post-script: a lesson in taking too much for granted:
After the aforementioned incident, assuming that 6 patrol cars in hot pursuit of a an obviously die-hard criminal had used up all available resources and effectively removed all likelihood of being targetted for minor indiscretions such as slightly exceeding the speed limit, I decided to continue on the motorway and "open 'er up" a little, just to test the acceleration, you see. Successful experiment concluded, I was happily winding down when I noticed some more blue and red flashing lights, which subsequent events proved to be an unmarked patrol car.
To cut a long story short, I accepted culpability, grovelled shamelessly, and got let off with a warning.
To have survived two potentially serious encounters in the space of a few minutes I took as a good omen.
I bought the bike.
Yes - but did you actually carry on and follow the pursuit?

[Lord Pac]

damn mate- good omen for sure..

Is it a yamaha??;)

[Hitcher]

A warning?? You jammy prick...

[DEATH_INC.]

Is it just me,or doesn't it seem a bit excessive to have SIX patrol cars to chase just one?

[Two Smoker]

wasnt there a chase on friday that involved like 20 patrol cars?????? Is it a XJR1200 or XJR1300????? but i did see a ZXR12-R there a little while ago......

[pete376403]

I'm sure someone who throws potatoes will deny it, but I reckon cops in a chase get into a sort of "feeding frenzy", they can put the lights and siren on and have a hoon. Doing exactly the same thing as the person they're trying to catch. Don't they just need to get the plate number and back off? Or radio for a road block up ahead?

[spudchucka]

I'm sure someone who throws potatoes will deny it, but I reckon cops in a chase get into a sort of "feeding frenzy", they can put the lights and siren on and have a hoon. Doing exactly the same thing as the person they're trying to catch. Don't they just need to get the plate number and back off? Or radio for a road block up ahead?
Denying nothing, cops are effected by adrenaline same as anyone.

[Coldkiwi]

only most of us aren't trained to deal with it in a sensible and safe manner are we?

[MikeL]

Just finished watching the item on 60 Minutes about police chases. I think it was fair in that it allowed the police plenty of opportunity to justify their policy. To concentrate on the victims' and their families' sufferings might be criticised as being overly emotive but hey, this is what the reality is. I remain unrepentant about my previously expressed views on the irrationality of present policy. Twenty lives lost over the last 10 years or so! Repugnant though it is to place an economic value on a human life, bureaucrats do it all the time: surely the total economic loss would be enough to equip the police with enough helicopters, extra patrols, roadblocks, communication equipment and other resources to enable them to carry out a saner and safer pursuit policy?
Sooner or later sanity will have to prevail.

[Lou Girardin]

Abso-bloody-lutely Mike L. '60 minutes' was a real wake up call for those that consider pursuing a car for a WOF and Reg check justified a womans death. 800 chases, 260 crashes as a result and 10 dead people.