Anyone who sees live police chases on TV knows that most of the chases were for ridiculous reasons like joy rides, driving after suspension, no license, etc.

The sad part about this is that police cruisers, vehicles being pursued as well as vehicles along the way get damaged as well as buildings and other personal property. This is all very costly. The biggest cost, however, is some innocent person, police officer or person being pursued can lose their life. Absolutely ridiculous.

I intend to contact my legislative representative and request that a new law be proposed to make it mandatory that if anyone caught after trying to elude a police officer in a high speed chase will automatically go to jail for a minimum of two years without parole, early exit for good behavior or anything else.

Bottom line is, if you do the crime then you serve the time. I firmly believe that this will curb high-speed chases. If little Johnny sees his best friend go away for two years, do you think that he or his friends might think twice about doing such a foolish thing?

We have a tough drunken driving law in Maine, and it works. I can assure you that this will work and maybe even save a few precious lives.

Fern Asselin, Lewiston