{"id":109103,"date":"2009-12-28T18:01:12","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T23:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/discoblog\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2009-12-28T18:01:12","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T23:01:12","slug":"the-long-tentacles-of-the-law-could-end-car-chases-safely-discoblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/109103","title":{"rendered":"The Long Tentacles of the Law Could End Car Chases Safely | Discoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is really no good way to end a high speed car chase. Shooting out the tires of a fleeing vehicle or laying down old fashioned spike strips are both terribly dangerous. Ramming the getaway car with a police\u00a0cruiser\u00a0until it spins out is obviously risky. Thankfully, the government is hard at work on the problem and they’ve come up with a solution that maybe ready by next year, according to\u00a0the Department of Homeland Security<\/a>. The technology is named the Safe Quick Undercarriage Immobilization Device, but you can call it SQUID.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSQUID was inspired by a sea creature and a superhero,\u201d says [Engineering Science Analysis Corporation] president Mart\u00edn Mart\u00ednez. Like its oceanic namesake, SQUID ensnares its prey with sticky tendrils. Like Spiderman\u2019s webbing, these tendrils stretch to absorb the kinetic energy of their fleeing target.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Huge amounts of such counterforce are necessary to stop a heavy, swift vehicle: Think Spiderman II, where Spidey stretched his webbing for blocks to halt a runaway passenger train. The force nearly killed him. Mart\u00ednez took a different approach that would have made Spidey proud: Don\u2019t fight the Force; just stop the axles from turning. Do that and you can stop (almost) anything with wheels.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The technology is capable of stopping heavy vehicles, and in one demonstration it quickly brought a pickup truck moving at 35 miles per hour to a gentle halt. Check out the video below from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s YouTube channel<\/a> (?):<\/p>\n