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Then why do you have so many car chases? That seems like an odd problem. There must be a reason.
by BadBadJellyBean 11mo ago
Then why do you have so many car chases? That seems like an odd problem. There must be a reason.
- ripberge 11mo agoI have only been to Germany once, but my assessment was that we have a very different population here.
- BadBadJellyBean 11mo agoPossible but it seems like the chases are not even a US problem but more a "certain places" problem. I genuinely wonder what the cause of this behavior is.
- dylan604 11mo ago> I genuinely wonder what the cause of this behavior is. Seriously? It's from people not wanting to be arrested and go to jail. If they get away, perfect. If they don't, well, they were going to jail anyways. Now they have a cool story to tell while in jail. These are not people getting pulled over because they rolled a stop sign. These are people doing dirt, know it, and are willing to try something to avoid getting caught. It's really not complicated
- samdoesnothing 11mo agoI think they're asking why there's such a large population of people willing to commit crimes and then get into high speed chases.
- dylan604 11mo agoThe cause of the behavior (as phrased when asked) is not wanting to go to jail. Asking why people are in situations where they are committing crimes that could land them in jail is a totally different question. Typically, poverty. Also common, addiction.
- wredcoll 11mo agoExcept that people around the world generally don't want to go to prison, so why do americans have more high speed chases? (assuming they do in fact have more per capita/car...)
- c420 11mo agoI'm going to guess... because we can? Police here are willing to chase for almost anything in most jurisdictions. I bet there are restrictions on what constitutes a chasable offense in the rest of the world.
- zimpenfish 11mo ago> I bet there are restrictions on what constitutes a chasable offense in the rest of the world. UK has stuff like [0] which contains a whole bunch of "is it worth it?" considerations. Also if a chase causes a death, the officer(s) can be prosecuted[1] - I suspect the nonsense of "qualified immunity" means there's no risk to a US officer for initiating a chase that ends in death. [0] https://www.college.police.uk/app/roads-policing/police-pursuits https://www.college.police.uk/app/roads-policing/police-purs... [1] e.g https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58889155 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58889155
- dmurray 11mo agoIn Ireland, the police (and the public) look on the UK regime with envy. After this case [0] the standing orders are that it's basically never worth it, you risk a prosecution no matter what the circumstances. [0] https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/garda-charged-after-three-burglary-gang-members-died-in-n7-crash-is-sent-for-jury-trial/a556295568.html https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/garda-charged-aft...
- zimpenfish 11mo ago> so why do americans have more high speed chases? Off the top of my head: 1) US cops are more likely to harass, maim, kill you than most other places (whether you've crimed or not); 2) US legal system seems a little hinky when it comes to certain people; 3) "three strikes" (not sure if that's countrywide or state-level? pretty sure it's still around tho'?) can mean life for three trivial crimes; 4) car-centric country - lots of them and everywhere is designed for cars[0]. [0] Imagine a car chase around London[1] or some other wackily streeted city. [1] No, the godawful nonsense Hollywood comes up with does not count.
- Aurornis 11mo agoThe population in big US cities is very heterogeneous. There isn’t one single culture. In a city with large population, it only takes a few people willing to commit crimes to make the news.
- zimpenfish 11mo ago> These are not people getting pulled over because they rolled a stop sign. Although if you watched "Last Week Tonight" recently (S12 E28, 2025-11-02), Mr Oliver's long segment is about police chases and IIRC he covered more than a couple of cases where people were, in fact, being pulled over / chased for trivial matters which then lead to crashes, deaths, etc.
- closeparen 11mo agoThese are trivial matters in that the penalties are minor, not that they are optional.
- dns_snek 11mo agoOf course they're not optional, but you shouldn't be starting a high speed pursuit over a seat belt violation, or for someone going 5 over the speed limit. Principle of proportionality should apply, you shouldn't be risking the lives of the public over anything but the most serious offences where them getting away poses a greater threat to the public than potentially killing a bystander.
- yreg 11mo agoIt goes the other way as well. It is dumb to run away from police when they stop you for minor infraction and face a very high chance of getting caught and getting into a major problem. At least I would hope that the penalties for running away are very serious. The police officers don't know why you are running away and can reasonably expect that there is something wrong other than an unbuckled seat belt -> a kidnapped person, tons of drugs in the trunk, a wanted murderer driving, etc. Well at least in my country where chases are rare. I understand in US it is difficult since people are more eager to run away.
- idle_zealot 11mo ago> It goes the other way as well. It is dumb to run away from police when they stop you for minor infraction and face a very high chance of getting caught and getting into a major problem Right, people are dumb. You can't just throw your hands in the air and declare a problem unsolvable because people are dumb and keep acting against their best interest; you acknowledge that fact and change tact accordingly. If it turns out that trying to pull people over for minor infractions causes 1% of those incidents to turn into violent chases then you should stop pulling people over for minor infractions and figure out a safer way to ticket them. At the very least you shouldn't chase after them in your car and add another dangerous vehicle to the road. It reflects a mindset of "get and punish the bad guys" being prioritized over "improve safety of your community," which pretty much sums up the culture problem with American police and criminal justice in general.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- stickfigure 11mo agohttps://www.google.com/search?q=florida+man https://www.google.com/search?q=florida+man
- 9cb14c1ec0 11mo agoThere is this perception that if you drive fast and recklessly enough the police will quickly stop following you. It's a get-out-of-jail-free card in popular perception.
- twelvedogs 11mo agopolice will chase in the US for really any reason, kinda dumb when they have your plates they can just mail you a fine john oliver did a whole thing on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ygQ2wEwJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ygQ2wEwJw
- AnthonyMouse 11mo ago> kinda dumb when they have your plates they can just mail you a fine Except that the person trying to get away knows that too, so if all they're doing is buying themselves a bigger fine, why are they doing it? The answer to that could be because they stole the car, or because there's a body in the back, in which case mailing them a fine doesn't work.
- idle_zealot 11mo ago> The answer to that could be because they stole the car, or because there's a body in the back, in which case mailing them a fine doesn't work. Except it's almost never that. The answer is that people are stupid and impulsive.
- AnthonyMouse 11mo agoThere seems to be a lot of variance in the percentage of police chases that involve stolen vehicles but the numbers seem to be in the range of 10% to 70% and even the low end of that isn't particularly low. You also have the problem that if you steal a car and then run from the police the result is that they don't pursue you and send a ticket to the person you stole it from, that makes it a lot easier to steal a car, and then the percentage goes up.
- domoregood 11mo agoTrue, but chases involving stolen vehicles (a non-trivial percentage of all chases) means that mailing a fine to the registered owner wouldn't be a universal solution.
- themafia 11mo ago
- squidgyhead 11mo agoBecause they have so many car chases on the news. So people get the idea that car chases are a solution that people use to get out of trouble. Seems like a vicious cycle, fed by the terrible news media.
- themafia 11mo agoPopulation density. In other countries they have a lot of motorcycle chases, and a lot more motorcycle based crime, but it's a crime of opportunity, which is created by highly dense and interwoven urban cores.
- cenamus 11mo agoEuropean cities are small? You don't hear about many chases in Berlin/Paris/London, do you?
- jdibs 11mo ago[flagged]
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- cenamus 11mo agoOh come on. If you wanna say Muslims (all those "dirty foreigners"), then spit it the fuck out. Also completely off topic that comment.
- themafia 11mo agoBerlin and Los Angeles _city_ both have 3.8 million residents. The greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area has 18 million residents. The greater Berlin Metropolitan area has 6 million residents. It's not only dense but the scale is far larger than most European cities. Only Asian and South American cities outclass the insanity that is LA. Until you've been there it's hard to appreciate the scope of it.
- marcinzm 11mo agoThe Greater LA areas has 34k square miles of area. Germany, the whole country, has 128k square miles. In other words, the LA area alone is a quarter the size of all of Germany.
- rasz 11mo ago28 seasons of Alarm for Cobra 11 tell me Germany is riddled with criminals running from Polizei on the Autobahn.
- almosthere 11mo agoPractice for GTA6
- hackable_sand 11mo agoDon't forget to boycott Rockstar!
- Zigurd 11mo agoSame reason that nearly every police response in the US is an armed response. Same reason police kill more Americans than terrorists do. US police culture is toxic and deadly. Several cities tightly restrict high-speed chases. That should be the norm.
- adriand 11mo agoMy home town of Hamilton, Ontario (population 560k) recently made the news because a guy stole a bus, with passengers onboard, and started driving it through the city. It was newsworthy because he also dropped people off at their stops, and even rejected someone who tried to board with an expired bus pass. But what stood out for me in addition to all that was the police response. They quietly followed the bus, intentionally not using sirens to avoid “spooking” the guy. They waited for the right moment, boarded the bus and arrested him peacefully and without incident. I recognize my little city is not like LA (which I’ve visited twice) - the types of crimes, the types of criminals and the prevalence of weapons are far different, although we also have our share of gun violence and murder. But we have also not militarized our police, and there’s very much a police culture of service to the community. Here, when a cop uses their weapon, it’s seen as a failure. This was a situation handled properly, and it made me proud.
- captainkrtek 11mo agoI'm Canadian and American, and have lived in both places and seen the stark differences myself. In the US, the police culture is certainly militarized and proud of it. Even in small towns you have days where the police roll out the biggest armored vehicles they have to show off, and that's their idea of a "community event", kids think its cool obviously, but it's really just "lets show off all of our high power toys".
- vee-kay 11mo agoThose high-powered toys by the cops are merely for showing off and to victimize the weak. Those toys typically never come into play to protect the citizens. Case in point: during the Uvalde school shooting incident in 2022, when a shooter (Salvador Ramos) went on a killing spree inside the school, then hundreds of cops gathered outside with brand new body armor (gifted to them just months ago) and armed with automatic guns, but they never dared to go inside to tackle the shooter. Not only that, those cowardly cops actively prevented parents and state patrol officers from going in to rescue their kids. The cowardly cops were led by a cowardly police chief, who later gave excuses for the delayed response to the deadly situation and his mishandling of the police force, by claiming to have forgotten his walkie talkie! Ultimately one of the border patrol officers and some US deputy marshalls (who had travelled 70 miles to reach the scene after getting an alert) managed to sneak in to the back, break the locked door, and used a tactical shield to corner and finally kill the shooter, thus ending his bloodbath (19 children and 2 teachers were tragically killed). And if you think arming cowardly showoff cops with guns and armor is useless and potentially dangerous, you should know the Uvalde school shooter was a minor but he managed to buy the guns legally from a gun shop on credit! That's how lax and evil the gun laws and resulting shootouts in USA are. USA has more mass shootings and more school shootings than any other place in the world. No wonder they facilitate and glorify high-speed car chases. It is all a thrillride for these adrenaline junkies high on power.
- ponector 11mo agoAmerican police just like it. They start chase for any reason, even for a broken tail lamp. Also not a simple chaise, but one where they intentionally provoke a car crash, often with fatal results for innocent people.
- SauntSolaire 11mo agoYou phrase it like the police can force you to run from them.
- gosub100 11mo agoBecause our society is spoiled, averse to consequences, and addicted to pleasure. People cannot tolerate it when they don't get what they want. What they want (when being pulled over) is NOT to go to jail, hence, due their conditioning, they avoid the consequence. Up to and including bringing injury and death onto themselves and strangers.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- aerostable_slug 11mo agoIt's insane this is downvoted when it's the truth. Again and again the person is running from something small, but that's not an indictment of the chase, it's proof of how freaking stupid and self-centered the subject is: they are willing to put dozens of lives at risk to avoid something like getting their car towed because they're driving on a suspended license. The officer chases them because they don't know why they're running (but it must be a good reason to risk picking up a felony), not because going after a suspended license is worth a chase. We are seeing the result of a combination of factors including aversion to consequences and the inability to empathize with those they put at risk.
- gosub100 11mo agoits a breakdown of community, with capitalism largely to blame. In small towns, this type of behavior is less likely when you know the sheriff or judge and feel like they are a part of your social sphere. In a large city, any red-light-flashing cop is just an NPC that spawed and will take your in-game credits. I think this is the result - for many of us - when each person we see every day is likely someone we'll never see again. The megacity is just a huge machine with sharp gears and lurking dangers you have to evade.
- jayd16 11mo agoBecause the police chase them.
- tokai 11mo agoIts interesting how both police chases and swatting is super rare outside of the US.
- almost_usual 11mo agoThe US is still cowboy country in many ways.