Word: speeded
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...just not there yet." But GM's product-minded president is determined to win back customers with better-made and better-looking vehicles. Moreover, he hopes to get the cars from design tables to assembly lines in less than three years instead of the current five. Helping to speed the process and reduce costs is GM's decade-long, $50 billion investment in building automated plants and modernizing older ones...
...Alas, nothing could be further from reality. "The pursuit is a cop's most deadly weapon other than a gun," declares criminal-justice professor Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina. Some believe it is deadlier. Says Erik Beckman, professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University: "High-speed chases probably result in a greater toll in injuries and deaths than incidents involving police use of deadly force...
...such vehicular mayhem justified? Many police and some legal experts argue that high-speed chases help maintain respect for the law. Says Sergeant Jim Mattos, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol: "As soon as you develop a policy of no chases, then the only people who are going to stop are the honest ones." Moreover, supporters insist, many chases end in the capture and arrest of serious criminals. Asks Donald Schroeder, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan: "If it were the Son of Sam in the car that you were chasing, would...
Closer scrutiny of the benefits and risks is leading police departments to impose tighter restrictions on high-speed chases. But the strongest impulse for curbing the hit-the-accelerator tactic has been financial. Since a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision made it easier for citizens to sue municipalities, there has been an upsurge in lawsuits nationwide. Attorney Barry Waldman of Detroit has represented victims and their families in ten chases. The longest: a 22-mile, 90-m.p.h. race through residential streets that began when a motorist ran a stop sign and ended when his car killed a work-bound autoworker...
Many police departments now have writtenguidelines that require officers to notify headquarters as soon as they begin a chase to report their reason for pursuit and their speed and location at regular intervals. Monitoring supervisors can call off a chase if they consider it unwarranted or when it threatens lives. In San Francisco, which enacted its chase policy seven years ago, supervisors cancel 85% of all pursuits by motorcycle cops. Dallas imposed strict chase rules two years ago. The result: chases are down 12.5% since last year. If the trend continues, someday the thrilling rides may be mainly confined...