ON WEDNESDAY Ballarat police officers were involved in an incident during which two teenagers riding what was alleged to be an unregistered motorbike without helmets crashed into Canadian Creek.

Little more can be said about the incident while one youngster remains in hospital and the matter is being dealt with by police and possibly later a Childrens Court. But the Police Ethical Standards Department will be casting

an eye over the entire event.

This is not particularly unusual but it does serve to highlight the difficult choices faced by police engaged in vehicle pursuits.

The community would expect that people speeding or otherwise driving a vehicle illegally would be asked by police to stop.

In the event that a motorist fails to stop, it would be reasonable to expect the police would follow the vehicle and make further attempts to pull the driver over.

If the offending driver fails to pull over and maintains or increases speed, police are faced with tough decisions; decisions they may have very little time to consider. Therein lies the dilemma.

In recent years police have tended to err on the side of caution and withdrawn from pursuits if they reach high speeds, particularly in urban areas.

To let a culprit go would doubtless go against every police instinct - offenders may evade apprehension and if they continue to speed they remain a danger to themselves and others in their way.

The law provides generally well-defined guidelines on how to behave but enforcing the law can have grey areas.

Police pursuits are one such grey area and it should be acknowledged that police are faced with difficult choices which they must often make in a split-second.

Evans could be a shining light leading the pack

SOME people may be fronting up to work a little bleary-eyed over the next week, having stayed up to watch late-night television.

The Tour de France is one of the world's leading sporting events and this year there is a genuine chance Australian Cadel Evans could claim the prized yellow jersey.

Evans' sporting story is remarkable given that he was a relative late-comer to road racing, after several years as a successful mountain bike rider.

It will be an uphill challenge on many fronts but an Evans' victory would be a popular one in an event that has been shaded by drug-taking scandals in recent years.