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Drunk driver on the road... What do you do? (1 Viewer)

I have called and reported as drunk driver

someone that is driving too slow and holding up traffic.
Brilliant
Yeah, I felt guilty about it the first time. But eventually I became more comfortable with it. Besides, I am doing my part in keeping nuisance drivers off the road even if it is for just a few minutes. Amazingly, one time the guy was actually drunk.
id say thats underachieving

 
Have called 911 3 times on drunk drivers.

In one case I followed the guy for about 5 miles and got to see the cop come and pull him over.
Do they ask you to stay on the line? What has been the outcome? Do they just say thanks and goodnight?
Stayed on the line and they asked me to follow him if I could and basically gave them turn by turn directions where he was going. Not sure if the ugh got a DUI but they pulled him over.

 
I have called and reported as drunk driver

someone that is driving too slow and holding up traffic.
Brilliant
Yeah, I felt guilty about it the first time. But eventually I became more comfortable with it. Besides, I am doing my part in keeping nuisance drivers off the road even if it is for just a few minutes. Amazingly, one time the guy was

actually drunk.
id say thats underachieving
Yeah, been thinking of stepping it up. You know, start calling in lane violations, no blinker use, burnt taillight, running yellow lights, drivers on phones, etc etc. In theory that should increase the odds of nailing drunk drivers. Wish more drivers would take my approach to cleaning up the roads of undesirable drivers.

 
Had this happen to me twice.

First time was on a divided highway. I stayed behind him with my hazards on, but didn't try and block other cars from passing me, etc...if they wanted to be mad, I didn't want them mad at me. Soon, another car went to pass me, but got what was happening, dropped back and rode beside me with his hazards on. Called 911, and a cop picked him up a few miles down the road. We saw the cop and just flashed him out. Car pulled right over.

The second time wasn't so smooth. It was in OC Maryland, pretty late at night, coming up Coastal Highway. I saw a car swerving in an out of the bus/bike lane and the right-most lane. I stayed in the middle lane with my hazards on, but before I could even get through to the 911 dispatcher, the guy just veered off to the right and ran into the side of a real estate building. He must've passed out because there were no brake lights or anything. Fortunately, he hit a few shrubs and things first. Probably hit it going about 30 MPH. It was a good thing there wasn't a bus stop or pedestrians, as that could've been really bad.

I think the key thing is to NOT pass the guy, and to call 911. No way would I want that guy behind me. Especially if I was going to put the cops onto him, which could trigger him to take off and run...with me in front of him.

 
Have called 911 3 times on drunk drivers.

In one case I followed the guy for about 5 miles and got to see the cop come and pull him over.
Do they ask you to stay on the line? What has been the outcome? Do they just say thanks and goodnight?
Encountered a speeding, swerving drunk at night on the interstate a few years back. He passed a semi and swerved over towards it, would have ended up into its tires but the semi driver went completely onto the shoulder to avoid being hit by him.

Called 911 and told them his behavior and where on the highway we were. I sped up to try to get back close enough to get his license plate and they told me not to. They said they were sending a unit in front of us and had me hang up then.

Saw him pulled over down the road. They called me about an hour or two later to confirm my name and contact info, but never heard anything about it beyond that. Didn't have to go to a trial or anything.

 
brohans we were on the way up north one time maybe three or four years ago and in the summer around here you have work let out and then basically all of chicagos finest racing up our highways to get to minocqua and door county and hayward blah blah blah anyhow we got sort of stuck behind an illinois guy and a indiana guy have road rage wars acting like they were going to ram eachother honking flipping each other off well it was a bad deal so my wife called that one in and the cops told us not to do anything just took our info and then we saw them both pulled over with about five squads after that it was pretty great to see because hey first off go home fibs anyhow but second if you do come up here thanks for the cash injection and try not to act like a jerkalope on the roads bam another bad guy bites the dust courtesy of the old swcer take that to the bank bromigos

 
Lots of assumptions on drunkeness. Could have been texting, spilled coffee, dropped something, sleepy, arguing, racing to hospital...and many other things. I move along and mind my own business because I truly do not know. I am assuming and not trained to do a cops job. Oh and you could have killed someone picking up the phone and calling 911. Hands free i hope or I will tell on you.
If he spilled coffee on himself it'll be a 2 minute traffic stop and dude is on his way.Plus, it takes no special training to know what drunk driving looks like.
I spilled coffee and now have to deal with the bs of a pull over. Unreal mind your own business. Oh yes there is training.

 
I've called 3 in. Only asked to follow one person by the dispatcher. She was arrested after pulling into her front yard and parking in the bushes.

 
Lots of assumptions on drunkeness. Could have been texting, spilled coffee, dropped something, sleepy, arguing, racing to hospital...and many other things. I move along and mind my own business because I truly do not know. I am assuming and not trained to do a cops job. Oh and you could have killed someone picking up the phone and calling 911. Hands free i hope or I will tell on you.
If he spilled coffee on himself it'll be a 2 minute traffic stop and dude is on his way.Plus, it takes no special training to know what drunk driving looks like.
I spilled coffee and now have to deal with the bs of a pull over. Unreal mind your own business. Oh yes there is training.
:fishing:

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
You can report them. It's illegal to text and drive in many states now. She's every bit as much a danger to other drivers as a drunk driver.

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
If I did this on my morning commute, I'd use all my anytime minutes calling 911, and they'd run out of cops. I probably pass 10 people every morning doing this. Maybe not swerving this badly, but easily going 60 in the left lane on a highway where people average 75, crossing the divider lines, etc. with their phone clearly in view.

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
i get close, honk loud and mouth clearly - GET OFF YOUR F-ING PHONE

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
You can report them. It's illegal to text and drive in many states now. She's every bit as much a danger to other drivers as a drunk driver.
What happens with these reports? Do you have to go testify?

I ask becuase I called the local police on a woman who regularly drove down our back-road at 60+ MPH (Speed limit 35, rural country road). My road was at the edge of a blind hill. A couple times I pulled out in front of her, and she'd fly up behind me and tailgate, swerving into the other lane to round corners, etc. I swore she was going to pass me on a blind curve one time. I asked them to just set up radar for 1 week on this stretch at this time because she was going to hit someone and it was when buses and kids were out. Their response was "If you want, you can drive down to the courthouse and file a citizen's ticket yourself, but we don't have time to send someone out there."

Way to pass the buck. I tracked down where she lives. It's actually only 1/2 mile down the road. Ironically, she works 5 minutes away, so all that speeding might save her 1 minute.

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
You can report them. It's illegal to text and drive in many states now. She's every bit as much a danger to other drivers as a drunk driver.
What happens with these reports? Do you have to go testify?
I'm assuming by "report" he means call the cops. Generally, an officer can't pull somebody over merely on the complaint of a civilian. The officer needs to find either independent corroboration of the alleged activity or find another legal reason to stop him (usually some simple traffic infraction).

Assuming the officer does this and does a good investigation, there's really no reason the civilian would need to testify. The officer can testify to the basis of the stop, his observations, FST performance, BAC (the most important piece of evidence in a DUI by far), etc.

 
Last week we were behind a minivan taxi. Thing was all over the road, almost went into the shoulder twice. My wife called the number on the taxi, thinking we would get an office person from the taxi company. She said the guy answering was slurring his words and asked if he was driving on the road we were on. He said no (of course), she told him one of there drivers were swerving all over the road. Some other conversation went on and then the guy sped up. She hung up and I called the non-emergency sheriff number (had it in my phone from a neighborhood issue a couple months back) and reported the driver, hingsight I should've just called 911. They put me on hold for a couple of minutes then I gave them the license plate number, where we were at and they took my name and number and said they would broadcast out to look for this van. Never heard back and I didn't continue to follow.

 
did you file the citizen ticket? confront her?
I called the courthouse to find out what was involved, and they said basically that I had to either have "proof" of her speeding and driving wrecklessly, or I had to be willing to sign an afidavit indicating that she was. I asked what happened then, and the clerk told me that in 95% of the cases without video evidence, the judge issues a warning as it's just her word against mine.

So I stopped there. A low-priority item for me has been to find a decent dash cam that I can use in my car. The problem is I need it to film behind me too. I could've gotten her with my cell phone a few weeks ago, but that would open me up to something I would imagine as I'm using my camera while driving! Oy.

 
did you file the citizen ticket? confront her?
I called the courthouse to find out what was involved, and they said basically that I had to either have "proof" of her speeding and driving wrecklessly, or I had to be willing to sign an afidavit indicating that she was. I asked what happened then, and the clerk told me that in 95% of the cases without video evidence, the judge issues a warning as it's just her word against mine.

So I stopped there. A low-priority item for me has been to find a decent dash cam that I can use in my car. The problem is I need it to film behind me too. I could've gotten her with my cell phone a few weeks ago, but that would open me up to something I would imagine as I'm using my camera while driving! Oy.
So weird. Which state is this?

Frankly, if I were hired to fight a speeding case and the complainant in the case was some yahoo citizen who claimed to possess evidence, I'd be salivating at the idea of litigating that and cross-examining that person.

 
I reported a drunk driver in Savannah years ago. I've never seen anyone drive crazier in my life, cutting people off, speeding up and slowing down suddenly, blasting music and whipping his head around like he was at a Megadeth show. When I called 911 they already knew about the guy and said officers were en route. I followed him for at least 20 minutes before the cops came. They didn't even do a field sobriety test or breathalyzer, just cuffed him and put him in the cop car.

 
did you file the citizen ticket? confront her?
I called the courthouse to find out what was involved, and they said basically that I had to either have "proof" of her speeding and driving wrecklessly, or I had to be willing to sign an afidavit indicating that she was. I asked what happened then, and the clerk told me that in 95% of the cases without video evidence, the judge issues a warning as it's just her word against mine.

So I stopped there. A low-priority item for me has been to find a decent dash cam that I can use in my car. The problem is I need it to film behind me too. I could've gotten her with my cell phone a few weeks ago, but that would open me up to something I would imagine as I'm using my camera while driving! Oy.
So weird. Which state is this?

Frankly, if I were hired to fight a speeding case and the complainant in the case was some yahoo citizen who claimed to possess evidence, I'd be salivating at the idea of litigating that and cross-examining that person.
Jersey.

That's kind of how I felt...basically, I felt like if the county wasn't willing to get involved at all, the only thing that could come out of me going down to the courthouse and making a complaint was that I would succeed in pissing off a neighbor, and getting a reputation as "that guy who complains about everything," with the cops. Any lawyer could very easily spin it into me being an overzealous vigilante, and I'd even admit I'd have no way to refute it.

I'm really not that guy. I'm very much a "leave me alone and I'll leave you alone" type person, but this lady's speeding and swerving was crazy out of control and unnecessary...and since she drove by my house every morning, I know it's a repetitive thing.

 
Called one in late Saturday night. Felt guilty for about 3 seconds. Gave him the benefit of the doubt for a few miles (phone, roadie), but he was all over the road. Didn't get a chance to see if anything happened because he was turning onto another highway when I called.

 
What about a texting driver? Was driving back from Chicago yesterday and the car that was in front of me for about 30 minutes on I-94 was all over the road. I kept think that this person has to be hammered because at times they were crossing 2 lanes and then on the shoulder. I kept 8-9 cars back thinking this was not going to end well but it was 1 in the afternoon. At one point the car went from 75 to around 60 and I passed. This female was driving and had her phone on top of the wheel was texting or face booking away. Did not even notice that I was passing.

What can you do? I was just hoping she did not hit someone or kill herself.
You can report them. It's illegal to text and drive in many states now. She's every bit as much a danger to other drivers as a drunk driver.
Yet the punishments are miles apart.

 
i have cops im friends with that drive drunk all the time when not on duty...its an interesting world we live in
I got hit nearly head-on by a drunk, off-duty cop while we were both doing about fifty on a one-lane road. Neither he nor I -- miraculously -- was hurt. He apologized for the accident and led me to his car so that I could use his car phone (this was '98) to call my girlfriend who I was visiting. There were tons of guns in the backseat. I was alone on a desolated stretch of land. The other cops came and wouldn't charge him for drunk driving, even though he admitted he was drunk to me, and reeked of whiskey. It was very local, and very creepy. They never fixed my car right, which they promised to do.

Carry on with the cop love. I did call 911 when I saw a guy come up an exit ramp in CT and go the wrong way on the highway. The dispatcher's response was basically a "so what?"

#### cops.

Jackie's right.

 
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Just had a guy in my city arrested for his 5th DUI ...he had his 14 yo daughter and a dog in the car as he rammed a police cruiser...bounced off the cruiser and hit a parked car then went thru a fence into a front yard ...real winner ...this is why people need to act when they see something that doesnt look right

 

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