I was an owner-operator of a tractor-trailer (double bunk Pete, shiny stainless Great Dane reeferhe
I've been involved in helping State Troopers block suspects they were chasing vehicles on a couple different occasions and always wondered why someone didn't just pop a hole in the bad guys radiator and wait for him to roll to a stop? I could stop an 80,000 lb big truck with a .22 short, and a car would do the same.

There was a county cop killed by a drugged up steering wheel holder in South Georgia once while sitting in the median and trying to shoot out the truck tires with a rifle. The nut-case driver just turned left into the median and ran over the patrol car and the officer too. He then lost control and ran back across the interstate and off into the woods where he was apprehended. I heard he got a very nice azz-kickin' in the process of being caught!

I'm sure some of you will say something about endangering the public, but my personal belief is that if an officer can't hit something as big as a grill on a car/pickup/big truck with a hand gun at a reasonable distance, he or she shouldn't be carrying a weapon in the first place.

Any thoughts, comments, smart-azzed remarks appreciated!

They don't shoot unless they have to and most police chases are from behind, not in front to hit the radiator...not to mention other traffic that could be in jeopardy if a bullet ricocheted.

Edited to add:  Those would be my assumptions from what I've been told and heard.  As I'm not a police officer .. just to clarify.

1) Cops shooting out tires is mostly Hollywood.  When I went thru the academy, we were trained to not do this.  (This is why they developed stop sticks)

2) Civilians operating any vehicle should be leery of getting involved in a chase unless you receive a very specific order/request from a LEO.

3) Gasoline and diesel engines operate on different principals  heat & compression vs. spark ignition.  Plus, cars don't pull 45,000+ lbs of freight.

4) If your weren't driving a big shiny "look at me" Petercar, you wouldn't have these problems in the first place

26 posts since 11/01?!?!?!  You need to put down that shifter and step back... S L O W L Y....

A hole in the radiator or even a catastrophic failure of the cooling system will not immediately stop a vehicle.  It can still go for miles before the motor grenades itself.

Quoted: 1) Cops shooting out tires is mostly Hollywood.  When I went thru the academy, we were trained to not do this.  (This is why they developed stop sticks) Some of the guys on the TV cop shows apparently didn't receive the same training as you... 2) Civilians operating any vehicle should be leery of getting involved in a chase unless you receive a very specific order/request from a LEO. We were SPECIFICALLY asked by the Fla. Highway Patrol to get two trucks side by side and slow down to 50 mph or so.... this bozo passed us on the emergency strip at 100+ mph....they did catch the bad guy, btw... heat Still, a gasoline engine won't run very long without coolant - I would think the bad guy would be stopped safer than with a flat and if he did try to drive at high speeds, the engine would run hot and quit a lot sooner... 4) If your weren't driving a big shiny "look at me" Petercar, you wouldn't have these problems in the first place htProblems???  WTF???? 26 posts since 11/01?!?!?!  You need to put down that shifter and step back... S L O W L Y.... Yeah, I'm pretty slack, don't have time to play on the 'puter all day and nitehr

Quoted: I bought the Pete for a number of reasons, comfort, dependability and resale value being at the top of the list. oh, and Big Trucks are like a boat - the two happiest days are when you buy it and when you sell it!!!! Problems???  WTF???? 26 posts since 11/01?!?!?!  You need to put down that shifter and step back... S L O W L Y.... Yeah, I'm pretty slack, don't have time to play on the 'puter all day and nite

Dude, I've been relocating freight for just over 7 years (hence my username)... chill!

I always have to rip on guys with BEEG Shiny trucks... "Chrome don't get ya home!"

I've always made better money in a fleet spec truck than in a Kenworth.  FWIW

I did very well as a "garbage hauler" - hauling produce direct for several Atlanta area companies - stayed away from the rip-off brokers

Quoted: A hole in the radiator or even a catastrophic failure of the cooling system will not immediately stop a vehicle.  It can still go for miles before the motor grenades itself.

Some motors might do down real quick some motors will last for a hell of a long time running hot, a Pontiac 400 can take alot of heat

Most motors on cars are aircooled. The engines however are usually liquid cooled via a heat exchanger. Planerench out.

Quoted: Most motors on cars are aircooled. The engines however are usually liquid cooled via a heat exchanger. Planerench out.

Yuk! Yuk!
YUK!!!

To shoot the radiator you have to position yourself ahead of the suspect vehicle which both increases your risk of a collision, and puts you where it is easiest for the suspect to shoot accurately at you.

Quoted: To shoot the radiator you have to position yourself ahead of the suspect vehicle which both increases your risk of a collision, and puts you where it is easiest for the suspect to shoot accurately at you.

.50BMG through the rear hatch, through the engine block, through the radiator, into the corner pocket?

Developed a coolant leak on a trip home for the weekend.  Didn't know it.  Got home and the coolant was completely gone.

Car never even came close to overheating (Thank god for large airspaces around the engine compartment....something you won't find on 'new' cars).

In my experience, even stop sticks take a while to deflate tires and "stop" cars (except cop cars which get stop-sticked more frequently than the BGs, in my experience).

Personally, I think a policy of "If you run, the air unit will respond and shoot your car to pieces with the door-mounted belt-fed machinegun as soon as traffic thins" would be a welcome change from the increasing amount of "no pursuit" policies floating around, and I loudly proclaim that this is probably a defensible policy, if one were to write it up well enough (fleeing is a felony, and one that places every other motorist in  the way, as well as pursuing officers, in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. Those who flee should be well aware of that, and any high-speed, reckless manuevering on the part of the fleeing motorist should be rightfully stopped, immediately, through the use of any reasonable means, to include deadly force).

That all being said, any time I hear sirens in the background on the radio, my pulse rises and blood pressure spkies; our policy is strict, and if I don't hear the exact right things from the troops, with good justifications, road conditions and everything else "by-the-book," that sucker will be shut down very quickly. I can't afford any days off or a demotion. Sorry, guys.