Have you ever noticed on TV that they'll make a big deal about a police chase by saying something like, "They reached speeds of up to 90 mph!"

Does that strike anyone else as funny? Does anyone else do 90 almost routinely at points in their drives?

I would think if I was running from the cops the reporters would have to say something like, "He reached speeds of 150 mph. It took helicopters to keep up with him."

Of course I would never do that, but I'm just surprised that these guys who are trying to run aren't hitting higher speeds. Strikes me as funny.

 

Scott,
I totally agree. To me high speed is 100+, cause lets face it, there are parts of the country where the cops wouldn't even really blink at 90mph...if the posted limit is 75...15mph over isn't usually worth their time.
I like your little self-described news clip...

From a pure physics pt of view, they shouldn't even try to chase you with a car if you are doing 100+, cause there is NO WAY a cop parked on the side of the road will catch up with you for miles...
A Z06 with NOS will take about 15 sec to get to 120...assuming you were trying to out run him...you'd have gunned it when you saw him...so lets say you were up at 120 (cause you know...traffic)...just for the cruiser to reach the same speed, we are talking 20-30 seconds....at which pt you'd be almost a full mile ahead of him...if he went to 140...it would still take him 3 mins to catch you...(assuming a constant 120)...by that time...you should have pulled off at the next exit...or even banged a u-turn.....

 

Interesting Scott, I noticed that from when I'm in the US but I thought it was a US thing (no offence). You've confirmed it's just the same. Here in Europe speeding is becoming more of an issue, with speed camera's everywhere. Providing $£$£ for Council's and some police forces.

I have a friend in Belgium who got nailed for doing 160 mph in his C4 a couple of years ago, he made all the newspapers. They couldn't catch him but when he came off the motorway, the traffic backed up and he saw this police car steaming towards him in his rear view mirror. Not even thinking they were chasing him, as it was some time afterwards. Needless to say he lost his license for a while for that one.

 

Colin, good story. I bet the cops were amazed they even caught him.

I sometimes wonder if the police lie about the speeds reached to the media to make those speeds sound more dangerous than they are. For instance, if they constantly reported that the chases were hitting 120 to 140 mph, then doing 90 wouldn't sound so bad to people, so the police report "speeds up to 90 mph" to the media to make 90 sound faster than it is.
Now, doing 90 on residential streets is one thing, but these are highways.

NYC, your physics are right on. In college, I had an '89 Mustang GT. It would do about 145 top end. Driving to Dallas from Houston one time, I passed a trooper in a Mustang w/ the same 5.0 liter engine as my car going the other way. I was doing 85 to 90 when I passed him. As soon as I did, I saw brake lights in my rear view mirror and knew he was coming after me. I started thinking about the exact physics you describe except he was probably doing 60 - 70 going the opposite direction so he had an extra disadvantage vs. sitting on the side of the road.
I nailed it up to 100 or 110 and took the next ramp off. Went over the top of the freeway and parked behind a McDonald's restaurant. Still had time to get out of my and look around the building to the freeway to see him fly by with lights and siren blazing.
I was sweating like a pig and my heart was racing. I could barely hand over the money to the cash register with my shaking hands when I bought a burger and waited in there for a good 30 minutes before heading back out.

I've never tried to evade since or before that incident.

Problem w/ the 996 is, it's not as bland and especially out of the city, you can't hide.

 

Top story.

Never tried that one, seen it on a few police video takes go wrong - ha.

As for my friend in Belguim yes I bet they were shocked, almost as much as he was. He had slowed well down and he was well into the traffic before they caught him.

 

typical police chase involves a 20yr old pick-up or nissan sentra ... even crooks aren't stupid enough to take those much over 90.

 

Rare is the day I don't reach triple digits going to, or coming from work. I also wonder about those "up to 90mph" chases.
How about the "slow speed" chases? If you're going slow, is it really a chase?

 

I didn't think a police cruiser could go past 110mph... Mustangs and Camaros on the other hand... 140?

 

Also reminds me of a time I was chased by the police myself and was unaware of the scenario....

I went through an intersection with a loud (aftermarket exhaust etc) motorcycle and at the time, there was a police car parked at a supermarket carpark adjacent to this particular intersection - I had dropped the bike back a gear or two to clear the intersection quicker which made the bike a little noisy etc.

They must have heard my bike and then started off after me so by the time they got out of the carpark etc I had a reasonable lead time on them....yet I was un-aware that they were trying to catch up with me.

Anyway, about 2Km later I turn left into a side street and proceed to park my bike so that I can pop into a cafe and have a coffee or two.

As I am standing next to my motorcycle and calmly unbuckling my helmet, this police car comes flying around the corner, lights blazing, sirens full bore, almost on two wheels and then proceeds to overshoot me by about 50-100m.

At this stage the cops realise that they have passed me and proceed to hit the brakes and bring their car to a screeching halt. They then reverse up to me and the bike and jump out of the car as if I am going to give them the slip....

They then start on a lecture about me trying to evade them, speeding, starting a chase etc and I try to explain to them that I am just visiting the local cafe.

As we are discussing the scenario I happen to notice that most of the patrons are leering out of the window of the cafe and trying to see what all the noise of the police car is about...

The cops then realise all are watching and they then give me a quick run-down on 'Don't Do This stunt Again' sort of thing, they also check my registration find that all is ok and then let me go....

Must have been a little embarrassing for them