Oculus VR Co-founder Andrew Reisse Killed In Auto Collision 302
ccguy writes with this excerpt from a sad report on CNET: "Oculus Rift co-founder and lead engineer Andrew Reisse was hit in Santa Ana, where he was a resident, by a speeding car being pursued by police." Reisse was killed, says the report, when the car "slammed into two vehicles during the pursuit before hitting Reisse at Flower Street and MacArthur Boulevard."
FTA (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:FTA (Score:3, Interesting)
Cars don't kill people, people kill people.
Sure, but no one is out on the streets to kill people with their car, yet people get hit and die, and if you take X * 4000lbs of travelling metal out of the equations of a city, there will be fewer deaths, among other benefits. Motor vehicles should really be reserved for when they're actually needed. Not that it would matter in this case, but you get me.
Re:Reckless Cops (Score:5, Interesting)
Ok, think of it this way. Lets say instead of jumping into a car, the suspects picked up a pipe bomb with a dead-mans switch. Would the police chase them? No. They'd follow slowly at a safe distance. Now, why wouldn't they chase them with the same vigor as the car chase? There's a big difference between a car chase and a pipe bomb, and it's not really obvious at first. Both chases end with a lethal release of energy... the bomb explodes, the car crashes. No suspect fleeing from a murder scene is going to stop until he crashes after all... The difference is the cars lethal force is uni-directional. The POLICE'S lives are not in danger. When the suspects come to a stop that lethal force is applied in the opposite direction of the police. So the police will not risk their own lives, but if it's the public who's in danger from their actions they're not as concerned.
Re: FTA (Score:2, Interesting)
My commute to work in dfw which is about half through the metroplex is 50 miles that's 80 km. I ain't going to bicycle 160 km a day with above 40 degrees Celsius temperature. thats the same distance as between amsterdam and maastricht, i dont belive even the bicycle crazy dutch commute by bike between those cities. i think most europeans just dont understand the massive size of the us continent and cities that were built for cars. Just because lilleput countries like Netherlands has the bicycle infrastructure doesn't mean that's available or even possible in other countries.
Re:FTA (Score:2, Interesting)
That's the policy in many areas of the U.S. as well. The final decision though rests on how easy it will be to track the fleeing vehicle. In a rural area or on a highway, it's pretty easy. In a city with lots of buildings and parking structures, not so much.
In a city with lots of buildings and parking structures, it would be even easier.
About 20 years ago, there was a rare robbing of a jewelry shop in a city center using guns done in Asia, where guns were outlawed. The criminals drove their car and flee. Chasing them would exactly replicate the problem you see in the article, innocent bystanders would be put in danger.
So what did the local police do? They simply switched ALL traffic lights in the area to red, then surrounded the area on foot (the traffic lights outside the area remained normal, so the police can quickly drive to the perimeter, then proceed on foot). Parking structures nearby? Just call their management and tell them to stop allowing any car in/out of the lot (just one switch from the security guard posts, all parking lots in the city are paid lots, and those always have someone on guard in case the payment facilities are not working. The guard can just switch off the payment system and no car can enter or leave.)
The criminals now found themselves stuck in a traffic jam, and the police totally surrounded the area. Once they get off the car, they will be spotted. But if they remained in the car, they have no where to run. Once the police located the criminals, they can change the traffic lights in other road sections to clear nearby of bystanders, and proceed to surround the smaller area.
In the end, the criminals were caught without anyone being hurt.
THAT is how police do their work if their priority is "protect and serve", in that order. Protecting innocents is the first priority, criminals can be tracked and caught afterwards even if they got away once.