# Why aren't police cars disabled by Spike Strips? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122 "2025-04-17T00:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/21 "2025-04-17T15:52:32Z")
I always watch On Patrol Live, and I have on occasion seen the lead car _not_ be able to avoid the sticks and it _will_ become incapacitated. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/22 "2025-04-17T16:16:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I remember reading police car tires have a hard insert that doesn’t go flat. A nail or bullet wouldn’t flatten the tire. I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’ve had more nails in my tires at work than I can count. Usually causes slow leaks because the metal is imbedded in the tire. Just regular tires on any police car I’ve been in. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/23 "2025-04-17T17:54:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I remember reading police car tires have a hard insert that doesn’t go flat. A nail or bullet wouldn’t flatten the tire. Unless you have a tank or a bulldozer you don’t want to drive over spike strips. They still could get stuck in any kind of armored tire and cause the car to flip over or the spike strip could get launched or swung around into a window. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/24 "2025-04-17T18:12:25Z")
Missed the edit window: Unverified, but I have seen the claim that prisoner transport busses have solid rubber tires with a steel plate in the center. If true, that would ruin the plot of several movies and TV shows, but still a bad idea to drive over one. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/25 "2025-04-17T18:27:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > They still could get stuck in any kind of armored tire and cause the car to flip over or the spike strip could get launched or swung around into a window. I think you’ve watch one too many TV dramas. The spikes are relatively short pieces of metal ‘tubes’ that are designed to sink into a tire & quickly deflate them; the entire device is relatively light, as evidenced by the ability of the officer to quickly carry & deploy/throw them. I’d like a cite as to how they’d flip a car or come out from under the car & then swing back in & break a window. I don’t believe that’s possible within the laws of physics ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/26 "2025-04-17T18:48:51Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I think you’ve watch one too many TV dramas. I’ve watched cars and trucks run over plenty of things. It can get ugly. A piece of 2x4 in the road can seem to defy physics and end up in a windshield. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/27 "2025-04-17T19:25:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Unverified, but I have seen the claim that prisoner transport busses have solid rubber tires with a steel plate in the center. Certainly they aren’t _all_ solid rubber tires. Here’s a web site where they make prisoner transport vehicles. > **[Prisoner Transport Vehicles For Sale | Custom Prisoner Transport Buses](https://msv4u.com/specialty-vehicles/prisoner-transport)** > > Prisoner transport vehicles manufactured by MSV® offers state-of-the-art safety and security features that protect all passengers on the road. One of the safety features is: > - Tire Pressure Monitoring You wouldn’t need to monitor tire pressure on a solid rubber tire. Here is a document showing requirements for prisoner transport vehicles for Anne Arundel County in Maryland. [https://public.powerdms.com/aac/documents/363](https://public.powerdms.com/aac/documents/363) A quote from that document: > Officers engaged in transporting prisoners are required to examine their vehicles at the beginning of each shift prior to use for transporting prisoners. It is the transporting officer’s responsibility to ensure that the vehicle is safe and equipped with appropriate items, for example, spare tire, jack, lug wrench, and safety flares. The condition of the vehicle itself should be examined, including the proper inflation of tires, fuel and oil levels, ignition system, and engine operation. The transporting officer will ensure that he or she will be able to refuel the vehicle as needed. So they need to make sure there is a spare tire and a jack in case you need to change it, and make sure the tires are inflated. Here is a news article showing a prison bus which was stranded when a tire blew: > **[Blown tire strands prison bus on side of local highway](https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Blown-tire-strands-prison-bus-on-side-of-local-highway-374514311.html)** > > A blown tire left a bus filled with state prison mates stranded on the side of local highway late Monday morning. I can’t find a single example of a prison transport bus with solid rubber tires, and I’ve tried searching for them in case they are rare but exist. It seems like they don’t unless I wasn’t searching well enough. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/28 "2025-04-17T19:49:40Z")
I don’t have any authoritative source for that. I’m not sure it makes sense either. If there’s a great danger of a transport bus being ambushed to disable it somehow the easy thing to do is have a police escort follow it, and the simple way to avoid a crash from a blown tire is driving at a reasonable speed for the conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/29 "2025-04-17T19:57:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I don’t have any authoritative source for that. I’m not sure it makes sense either. If there’s a great danger of a transport bus being ambushed to disable it somehow the easy thing to do is have a police escort follow it, and the simple way to avoid a crash from a blown tire is driving at a reasonable speed for the conditions. It’s a much bigger concern on tv than it is in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/30 "2025-04-17T20:01:52Z")
There’s a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/31 "2025-04-17T20:17:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If there’s a great danger of a transport bus being ambushed to disable it somehow the easy thing to do is have a police escort follow it, and the simple way to avoid a crash from a blown tire is driving at a reasonable speed for the conditions. A great many of the safety features available were inside the buses. Though one interesting feature I saw on one bus were floodlights surrounding the entire bus, so that at night you could turn them on and eliminate any shadows immediately around the bus. The tires never seemed to be special or featured in any way except to confirm that indeed, the bus had tires. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122/32 "2025-04-17T20:34:19Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I always watch On Patrol Live, and I have on occasion seen the lead car _not_ be able to avoid the sticks and it _will_ become incapacitated. Happened just last week, either on that show or one similar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-police-cars-disabled-by-spike-strips/1017122.md?page=1)