CLARK COUNTY, WA- Well who could have predicted this? According to KGW-8 in Portland, Oregon, sheriffs deputies in Clark County, Washington have seen a marked increase in people fleeing from traffic stops after being pulled over.

Sheriffs say that since March, 364 drivers have fled from traffic stops. When officials saw what they believed to be a pattern developing, they began to track the number of police pursuits in March. And that only includes pursuits from the sheriff’s office.

“That’s just for the sheriff’s office too,” said Sgt. Chris Skidmore, the office’s public information officer. “We don’t track what Washington State Patrol has, but the rest of the agencies that use our CRESA dispatch center—that number is 741 throughout the whole county.”

Skidmore noted that over half of “routine” traffic stops end in a warning or a citation, however fleeing from the police makes matters much worse.

“When you do an action like this, it turns it into a criminal, arrestable offense,” he said.

That is the least of it. Motor vehicle pursuits are also inherently dangerous.

This past week, a teen driver made an illegal U-turn in Clark County, then spun his tires in front of a fully marked sheriff’s department vehicle, authorities said. The driver then fled, engaging deputies in pursuit, driving 90 mph in a 35 mph zone.

The deputy followed the vehicle, however the driver continued to drive recklessly through residential neighborhoods, Skidmore added.