Crotch Rockets Are 'Potential Death Machines' - real headline

[RVertigo]

Cars have never killed anyone.

[Kasumi]

The technology exists already to prevent chases like this. In america the 'police chase' seems to be something of a theatrical entertainment. Like a soap on the television. I mean news crews follow chases like its the MotoGP at laguna seca, commentating on whether they think the guy is going to commit suicide at the end or how many people is he going to manage to kill. This is the sort of thing which makes these police chases you have be as they are. If the news wern't allowed to do these running commentaries and the police did their job and stopped the fugitive using ALL the technology available to them then there would be no need. But as long as the police (through their image) and the fugitives (through their publicity) get rewarded in terms of being covered and fussed about it will continue. Use a helicopter, chase them with two or three cars, do not pressurise them to run, let them think they have escaped. This is all that is needed to bring these chases to an end. Not the entire of the california high way patrol all wanting a piece of the cake in stopping one man in his truck. It just seems stupid to me. But hey.

[RVertigo]

Mmmm... Cake....

[linuxman2003]

I just don't understand these police chases you have over there in america. You see it on the news and tv etc all the time, 1 car running chased by 10 or 11 cops at high speed on freeways etc.. Here in england if someones is being pursued and it looks like it is going to turn nasty, i.e traffic is busy, there isn't a good place to stop the escaping vehicle or the chase is escalating, the pursuiing 2 or 3 cars which is all that you tend to get in england, they back off and let a helicopter chase the car and they just follow the directions of the helicoptor and stop the car when the situation is safer again. And in a serious case they will call of the pursuit altogether. You very very rarely get more than 3 cars chasing one fugitive and if there are 3 cars the helicoptor is usually there advising them all.

I dont understand them either to be honest... I dont understand a -LOT- of what goes on in America nowdays.... and heck I'm only 22! I think its just people are getting stupid.... really.....really.... stupid. All this BS tv drama, glorifying people that do crap like this, the 24 hour news networks that pour over the dumbest little misdemeanors just to fill airtime...... ugh. Sometimes I wonder if news networks pay felons to go run from the cops just to up the ratings so mr CEO can get a few extra bucks for the week. 

[ZJcrawler45]

geez, this thread on this forum also??? I've already said enough on gixxer forums; all im going to say here is thats it's the COPS fault none the less, they just try to blame their mistakes on civilians so the government is not perceived as wrong.

[frankieG]

america has turned into a police state and its police are mostly para military.   we execute the poor and mentally disabled and live in a society motivated by fear, hatred and revenge.  rome collapsed upon itself and so shall we

[nightrider]

[RVertigo]

Death.....



MACHINE!!!!






DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!











MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OctaneMotorsports]

That's ridiculous. Damn near everything is a "potential death machine in the wrong hands". Maybe we should ban plastic butter knives as well...

[linuxman2003]

That's ridiculous. Damn near everything is a "potential death machine in the wrong hands". Maybe we should ban plastic butter knives as well...

fear the spork! 

[Wrecent_Wryder]

*

[natedawg120]

Cars have never killed anyone.

No only motorcycles, cars never kill anyone cause its always the drivers fault in a car.  Now motorcycles, its never the dumb f%$k that is going 100+ on a given road, its always the motorcycle that enable the dumb f%$k to go 100+ mph. 

Motorcycles are like sharks, people that don't know them fear them and thus blame them for for everything.  Enter reporters.....

[spc]

yeah, it's like the gun debate.  " guns don't kill people.  Bullets do.  Guns just get em going really fast"  replace guns with bikes and bullets with riders

[natedawg120]

yeah, it's like the gun debate.  " guns don't kill people.  Bullets do.  Guns just get em going really fast"  replace guns with bikes and bullets with riders

+1

[MrDan]

For those not familiar with PG county, MD.  allow me to elaborate:

PGPD is the closest thing the mid-Atlantic has to the LAPD.  The are many in number, deal with one of the most difficult areas to enforce (the famous I-95 drug corridor and the consensus worst crime county in the DC area).  They make traffic stops in packs, chase down drug dealers on a daily basis, and are notorious for being extremely aggressive.

I'm not making any judgments here, I'm only saying that they may have the most difficult law enforcement assignment in the area (district cops included) and the force has reacted by becoming aggressive and uncompromising with anyone or anything they perceive to be a criminal element. 

Who knows how much crime or loss of life they deter using this philosophy over the years, but in this specific case it backfired big-time.

It is sad that public officials in the situation will be incapable (or unwilling) to look at the situation with objectivity.  Nobody wants to hear that everyone involved had some degree of fault in the situation.  It is more comforting to hear that one bad man or one bad machine did it all, and he or it will be taken off the streets 

My heartfelt condolences go out to those who were killed.  I hope their families receive some semblance of justice before it is all over.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but PG does have a No Chase policy in place.  Guess the cop forgot that.

Oh - and I was almost run off the road in VA yesterday .. by a MD tagged Magnum.  I'll post details and pix later.

[midlifecrisis]

This is the follow up article.  http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1164331&nid=25

More fear mongering.  Still nothing about it being the cops fault.  Also interesting is the fact that they have not releaseed the footage from the cruiser and they didn't state what felony the guy was being sought for.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

^^^

[vtlion]

"What I hear is, they're rolling down the road, obeying the speed limit, and they look in their rearview mirror and here comes one, two, three or sometimes a pack of 'bullet bikes' that shoot past them at incredible speeds," he said."

Anyone from the area know that this part of his comment is laughable.  NOBODY in Montgomery County Maryland obeys the speed limit (especially on the highways).  To do so is actually viewed as unsafe by most in the area, because everyone else on the road is going 20 mph faster than you.  He makes it sound like all the cagers are crouched behind the steering wheel, putting along on their way to church when these bikes go by.  It just demonstrates the willingness of this guy to bend the truth to make the bike look like the criminal.

I am all for stiffer penalties for excessive speeding in ANY vehicle.  Some of those Audis, Beamers, etc rockin' 90-100 mph on the beltway scare the sh*t out of me as much as the dreaded "bullet bikes".  It sounds like he has at least finally bowed to the fact that bikes are on the same road as cars, and so should be treated equally under the law.

[MrDan]

Anyone from the area know that this part of his comment is laughable.  NOBODY in Montgomery County Maryland obeys the speed limit (especially on the highways). 

Now to be fair ... when I was riding up that way 2 weeks ago I was hitting 65 on the nose .... then again, I'm still breaking in the SV so that's as fast as I could go and stay under the rpm "limit."    Other than that, I agree 100%.  That's why I came back down through Rockville - at least I could hit some backroads that way. 

I am all for stiffer penalties for excessive speeding in ANY vehicle.  Some of those Audis, Beamers, etc rockin' 90-100 mph on the beltway scare the sh*t out of me as much as the dreaded "bullet bikes".  It sounds like he has at least finally bowed to the fact that bikes are on the same road as cars, and so should be treated equally under the law.

Actually - there are 2 things that really scare me about cars speeding.  The Audis and Beamers who think they know how to drive well.  And the minivan drivers who just don't give a shaZam!.  I saw someone road raging yesterday ... with 2 kids in the backseat - wtf.

[jserio]

seems to me that america is hell bent on making someone, somewhere a potential "fall guy" for any major problem. the whole, it's not my fault thing. lets discuss known facts.
1. the bike in question may or may not have been speeding and may or may not have committed a crime. (wouldn't it be something if this was mistaken identity??)
2. the cop rear-ended a car sending it into on-coming traffic
3. people lost their lives
now, who is to say that the cop was actuallly chasing anybody? since from what i understand, nobody got a tag number or anything to identify this bike in question. if the bike was going that fast that the cop couldn't get plate numbers, he is obviously going to fast for the cop to chase him down. let's think about this also. bikes are faster than cars. almost all bikes are faster than pretty much all cars. and bikes manuver and fit into places cars can't go. if the road way was that congested the cop hit someone, he should have never been engaged in the pursuit. if the bike is going that outrageously fast on a crowded highway, eventually he will more than likely wreck. in which case he will probably only cause his own death.