Mark Wright’s Blog

Last weekend I went to go see The Fast and The Furious movie.  Now I am guessing Vin Diesel will not be accepting an Oscar next year for his performance, it wasn’t bad.  It was two hours of really cool cars and high speed chases. 

Today Southern California had its version of the movie with a real live high speed chase.  The only difference instead of high performance tuner and muscle cars, there was a Scion Toaster car.  I call these toasters because they look like toasters.  It took officers from Orange County, CHP and Long Beach to finally subdue the woman driver.  During the chase, they got up to speeds of 100 mph. 

Now I have a couple of questions.  How in the world did they get that fast?  I have been here for five months and with the crazy traffic they have, you don’t get anywhere fast.  If I don’t have to drive, I don’t.  I am fortunate enough to live close to the office and pretty much anywhere else I want to go.  I walk, a lot.  Personally, I am not a speed demon but even by my slow standards, traffic moves at the pace of a snail.  Also, Why do people think they can get away?  If they do get away, then they are still going to be pursued more vigorously.

I never understood the whole concept of the high speed chase.  Sometimes I think people see it on TV shows and movies and think they have a chance to outrun the cops.  Here are a few things to consider if you are thinking about outrunning the cops, here are a few things to consider.

If you are driving a Scion Toaster Car, you don’t have enough speed to outrun a high performance police car. 

Car scenes in movies are based on fantasy, not reality.  The Fast and The Furious would be a pretty short movie if Vin Diesel got caught in the first five minutes.

Police have helicopters, numerous vehicles and the ability to set up road blocks.  You also have news helicopters that love to film high speed chases.  You don’t really have anywhere to run.

When you try to evade the cops, you are putting lots of people in potential danger.  If you are running away because you have a bunch of speeding tickets, you might as well pay the tickets or maybe go to jail for a little bit rather than deal with potentially injuring or killing an innocent person. 

It is kind of funny that I am writing this right now as the cars from the Formula Drift series are practicing.  I can see and most definitely hear them from the office as they rev their engines and squeal their tires.  So for all of you that want to outrun the cops, think twice about it.