Police officers play an important role in ensuring the safety of the roads throughout the Pittsburgh area. By pulling individuals over who are violating traffic laws they are working to reduce the chance that such behaviors will result in a crash. There are times however where things do not go as planned.

Earlier this month an attempted traffic stop led to a police chase. When the chase began to get out of hand and posed a danger to others who may have been on the road at the same time, it was called off. Shortly after that, the vehicle the police had been chasing was involved in a single car crash.

The vehicle reportedly struck a pole which caused the man driving the car to be thrown from it. Just before the crash the vehicle was speeding, driving over 80 miles per hour. In addition, at the time of the motor vehicle accident, which occurred shortly after 2:00 a.m., the car's headlights were not on.

While it is somewhat miraculous that the man survived the car crash, the outcome could have been much worse. Had he encountered any other vehicles as he sped down dark roads without any lights there is a good chance those cars could have been involved in a collision as well.

At this point there is no information regarding why the man attempted to get away from the police. Because of the time of day the incident occurred, it is possible that alcohol could have been a factor. There are other reasons he may not have wanted to face law enforcement as well such as driving without a license.

Source: KDKA, "Pursuit Suspect Crashes In Penn Hills," Ross Guidotti, Feb. 15, 2013