What do you dial when you see drunk drivers on the road?

[mr.jameswoods]

Today was the second time I saw a guy who was obviously under the influence. He was swerving in and out of lanes for nearly 2 miles. It was dangerous and scary. There were no police cars in sight. In that situation, do you dial 911 and give them the plate number? I know this might sound naive but is 911 for those purposes? I was honestly afraid this person was going to hit someone else and hurt that person as opposed to getting this person in trouble. What do you do in that situation? The first time I saw something this blatant was on the highway 4 years ago.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Today was the second time I saw a guy who was obviously under the influence. He was swerving in and out of lanes for nearly 2 miles. It was dangerous and scary. There were no police cars in sight. In that situation, do you dial 911 and give them the plate number? I know this might sound naive but is 911 for those purposes? I was honestly afraid this person was going to hit someone else and hurt that person as opposed to getting this person in trouble. What do you do in that situation? The first time I saw something this blatant was on the highway 4 years ago.

If you don't know the police number in that area, dial 911 and even if it is not who you should dial, I am sure they can transfer you or give you the number.

Anything to get those DD off the road and prevent them from hurting others.

 

[masomenos]

Yeah, calling 911 is perfectly fine in that case.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

If you don't know the police number in that area, dial 911 and even if it is not who you should dial, I am sure they can transfer you or give you the number.

In Pgh, someone stole the plates from my car. I called the police dept thinking this wasn't an emergency. The police dept told me to call 911 first and then the 911 people will file a report and contact the police dept.

The police dept told me 911 isn't just for emergencies anymore.

But, definitely in the case of witnessing a drunk driver, you should call 911 immediately.

 

[Rackat]

I don't know about other states, but Oklahoma and Texas you can dial *55 for the highway patrol.

I did that a couple of years ago when two idiots were trying to wreck each other on I-35. I called and the dispatch operator asked what the problem was, I explained the situation, and within 3 minutes a highway patrol car came flying by me. About a minute later, I passed both cars on the side of the road stopped by that trooper.

 

[Hostile]

Several years ago we had this happen. We went out to eat with the kids and a white Mercedes Benz sedan came around us and the driver was obviously blotto. I called 911. She (it was a woman) was going 60 mph at times in a 35 zone. She was across both lanes, plus the turn lane, plus the first lane of oncoming traffic. It was scary.

She finally stopped as she t-boned a bridge. The car started up concrete divider that separates the two directions of traffic, slid sideways and smacked the bridge on the driver's side rear door and then fell 3 feet off the divider to the street. The 911 operator thanked me for staying with her. A man was going to move her car and I told him to leave it as the police were on the way. It wouldn't have driven anyway.

While I was giving the police my contact info this woman was hitting on the cop who was giving her the sobriety test. My kids watched it all. It was a good lesson for them but watching that car wreck did shake them up bit. I doubt either one of them will ever get behind the wheel if they drink. I hope they won't even drink.

 

[mr.jameswoods]

Thanks for the answers guys. Yeah, I live in Phoenix and as Hostile can attest, we have some crazy drivers here who are very aggressive. But it scares me when you see someone who is obviously drunk and endangering people.

 

[WoodysGirl]

In Houston, we have a local number (713) 222-3131 we can call or we can simply dial 311. That's if we're in the city limits. If we're outside the beltway, may have to dial the county number which I don't know by heart.

I've called that 311 number from everything from a drunk driver to debris in the road. I was on my way home from class one night and there was this huge mattress in the middle of I-45. People were slamming on brakes and swerving. Total road hazard.

I've also called the number when all the lights were out at this major intersection during rush hour. It was outside the beltway, so they referred me to the County. They gave me the number, tho.

Anyway to find the number in your area, you can look in the white pages of your phone book or nowadays go online to local PD website and find the non-emergency number.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

join 'em

 

[Vintage]

join 'em

Damn straight.

 

[tomson75]

If I called the cops every time I saw a drunk driver I'd have to put them on voice dial. Perhaps its due to the fact that I live in a relatively small college town (approx. 45,000 with 17,000 students), but I swear there are weekends around here that damn near every car on the road has a drunk college kid behind the wheel. It's not just the college kids, either. Hell, even our mayor is a notorious drunk. I've never even seen a sobriety checkpoint here. It's unreal how they just seem to let it slide.

I've seen some blatant drivers that I've thought about calling the cops about though. Probably should....

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

911 is fine for drunk drivers. We don't encourage people to follow drunk drivers, but if you don't, we'll only broadcast the information to the officers so they're aware of it and that's not a guarantee of anything since no one is actually dispatched to the area. If you follow, we stay on the phone with you until officers catch up. So, if you really want that guy off the road, follow.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Hitting on the cop, nice

I remember a Cops episode once where a woman was picked up for DWI and asked the cop if they could settle it through sex. I always wondered what his answer would have been had the camera not been on him.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

Hitting on the cop, nice

I remember a Cops episode once where a woman was picked up for DWI and asked the cop if they could settle it through sex. I always wondered what his answer would have been had the camera not been on him.

They all have dash cams. I doubt he would have gotten away with it. I'm sure it happens, but it's a lot harder to do now than it used to be.