Responsibly or lack of it – Police Chases – do we or don’t we?

I am so sick of people looking for more ways to stop people doing things that previously common sense dictated were stupid and life-threatening.

In the 10 days of the year 2012, several things spring to mind. The first being the incidents on New Years Eve, one resulting in death, another possible blindness in one eye and another resulting in broken ribs. These fireworks were illegal. Fireworks in the state of Victoria have been illegal (note the word illegal) since 1985. 2003 - Fireworks Every year, people are warned to avoid ILLEGAL fireworks, they are dangerous and they cause noise pollution, which in turn frightens animals nearby.

Add to this the risk of scrub/bushfires in the vicinity of the illegal fireworks and you have a mixed bag that when shaken can cause death. At about 6minutes after midnight on the 1^st January 2012, the CFA website listed approx 12 fires that were thought to have occurred after fireworks were lit. 30 minutes later exactly the same thing happened in South Australia o the CFS site.

Now, the most recent event, which will involve more laws aimed at curtailing the power of the authorities and giving more power to the hoodlums of Australia are police car chases, which most of the time involve stolen vehicles, mostly male occupants, mostly under the age of 25, and often affected by drugs or alcohol or both.

QLD
2011 - Editorial - Qld police lose faith in car chase laws
“Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said the average penalty was inadequate.”
“Nineteen people have been killed and 737 injured during police pursuits since 2000,”

2011 - LNP (Political) CMC highlights Police Upset with Car Chase Penalties
“criminals had a green light to evade police on our roads under this Labor Government and its anti-pursuits stand”

NSW

2011- 2 Car Chases, One Car, 100's KM Apart
“RTA checks found the vehicle had a cancelled registration and was not fitted with number plates.”

2010 - Horror Car Crash Sparks Call for Police Chase Ban
"It almost invites people to flee and to avoid the police after potentially having committed very serious crimes,"

2010 - Police Want Tough Law on Car Chases
"Highway patrol officers have called on the State Government to introduce a mandatory three-year sentence for people who force the police to pursue them."

VIC
2011 - 19yo Dies in Tree Car Crash After Cobram Police Chase
"It is a concern as to why young people don't want to pull over,'' Commander De Santo said.

2011- Spikes Fail to Stop High Speed Driver
“but called off the pursuit after the driver turned off the headlights and the chase was deemed too dangerous.”

2012 - Man Dies adter Police Chase in Stud Road, Dandenong
“Police said they started a pursuit after trying to stop the allegedly stolen and speeding car in Stud Rd about 3.50am.”

Add to the above with blatant speeding and alcohol and drug impaired driving, again (often but no always) involving the same gender, age and stereotyped driver. There seem to be few penalties if ‘Little Johnny’ screws up and kills a couple of mates. There is little consequence if ‘Little Johnny’ is 23 years and hasn’t held a full license, since the day he sat his driving test.

Some posts I’ve written about personal experience/exposure to the youth of today and why I’m scared for them and why I’m scared for you the road user, the public.
2010 - Why Hasn't he lost his licence yet?

2010 - Flashing Lights and Drink Drivers

2009 - Road Rules and Laws

2011 - 1 Weekend and 8 Dead on Victorian Roads

2010 - Youth and Alcohol, are we Killing our Kids

Please add your thoughts.