Have you ever thought about the lives lost due to vehicular pursuits?

If you don’t know what that is, I can give you a little background. A vehicular pursuit is when a police officer chases after a civilian that is speeding. In some cases, the police officer is allowed to hit the civilian’s car. This is called a pit maneuver. Many people have died because of them.

Corporal Justin Thompson of the Bentonville Police Department illustrates this theme when he wrote in a report in 2005 that: “Vehicle pursuits can be extremely dangerous for everyone involved, including innocent bystanders. More than 5,000 bystanders and passengers have been killed in vehicle pursuits since 1979.”

At times the person speeding to get away can lose control of their car. I’m not saying that the people speeding are in the right or they should be allowed to because they also endanger other people on the road, but there should be times when there shouldn’t be a pursuit. If the police officer sees their license plate, they can track them to their home and take care of it there. This won’t put them in danger or the other drivers on the road. Hot pursuits can be dangerous and shouldn’t always happen.

Car chases are the most common actions by the police that are depicted on social media. Most of the comments are filled with people talking about the crash that just took place and being able to see the devastating fiery end. Some people are fearful in the comment section. So, as you can see, many people do agree with me. The statement “The media attention seems to be never ending. On almost any night of the week, you can turn on the television and watch an episode of “Cops” or “World’s Wildest Police Videos.” (Thompson October 21, 2005).

This highlights that while people love watching them acting like it is their own police show they like to watch at the end of their day. Sometimes if something is being depicted or shown on your television, or on your phone it is not seen as real; this is called hyperreality.

In the end, pursuits will still happen and it will still be talked about on social media. Depicting them as not bad and adventure filling should not be the automatic brain response. But going forward we can do more training and learn safer ways to apprehend the suspect. If you see

someone speeding down the road, get as far to the side to make yourself safe and the dangerous driver.

Belle Wright is a student at Layton High School.