Did something I have never done before yesterday.

[RSKY]

On my way home from my daughter's house I was passed by an older Honda Accord. He buzzed by me in the left lane of a four lane divided highway. As he got about twenty yards ahead of me he started drifting to the left and entered a left turn lane but never touched his brakes. The lane ended and he had to jerk back onto the road. He then put his signal on and moved over to the right lane. Drove straight for a little while then drifted over until he was straddling the line between the road and shoulder. He started slowing down and creeped over and straddled the line between lanes. I followed watching this repeat for four or five miles and finally he slowed down and I moved over to pass. I never varied my speed, had the cruise on. As I came up to pass he started drifting over to my lane, I was close enough that I don't know if he crossed the line but I had to tap the brakes and get out of cruise and drop back. I looked at his license number, then waited until he veered over to the right again and hit 65, on a 55 limit, to get around him. Watched him in my mirror and saw him crowd somebody else nearly off the road as they passed. I thought this drunk is gonna cause a wreck so I called the Sherriff's office and reported him. Had a description and license number. I slowed down to let him catch up before I turned off the four land and as he passed I could see him holding his cellphone up texting on it. So I called the Sherriff's dispatch back and told her he wasn't drunk but texting instead. Gave her my name and number in case the guy wanted to talk to me.

I think the guy was probably more dangerous than a drunk. I followed and/or watched him for twenty miles and he was all over the road. Hated to call the law on somebody but good grief.

RSKY

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Ya did good.

 

[AaronS]

Don't feel bad RSKY, you may have saved someone's life.

 

[orezok]

a number of years ago I was coming home from work on the freeway and I saw this car coming up behind me. It was all over the road and when it passed me I noted it was a young lady and she was not talking or texting. I followed her for a short time and the weaving kept on.

I dialed 911 to report her and as I was talking to the dispatcher with car information. she lost control, hit the center divide and spun out. Because of my call, the CHP was already on the way.

I think her bad day just got worse.

 

[Gunny]

A few years ago, I was doing a prisoner transfer and a guy zipped right by me, holding his cellphone up against the steering wheel as he texted. Just for kicks and giggles, I caught up to him and he was doing 82 mph in a 70 mph zone. I was out of my jurisdiction so I started out by calling the state police, but they had nobody out in the area and this guy continued to hold his speed and occasionally drifting across the line, so I lit him up, just to tell him he needed to slow down and quit texting. He asked where I'd been sitting when he drove by me and would not believe that he'd passed me on the interstate and had been following him for over 20 miles. He said there was no way he'd ever pass a police cruiser while either speeding or texting, acted like I was fibbing to him. I couldn't write him up, but I did tell him to slow down and put the phone up and that I'd alerted the state police what he'd been up to. Before I got back into the cruiser and buckled up, he was out of sight and I never was able to catch up to him again.
Another time, while out of state, I followed a lady talking on her cellphone for over 50 miles and she never took the darned phone away from her ear the entire time, she turned off on an exit, so I had to continue on so I don't know how much longer she stayed on the thing. I don't spend as much time on the phone in a month as she did while I was following her.

 

[Jstpssng]

You may have saved somebody's life. That just shows how hard it is to legislate common sense.

As an aside, they already had your number as soon as the dispatcher picked up; also your location, and it's pretty amazing how accurate they are.

Funny, if you were to suggest that everybody should wear a tracking device there would be an uproar decrying civil rights violations and references to "1984"... Instead they put them in cell phones and many (most?) of us can now be tracked where ever we go.

 

[boggen]

did a call one time. some large box truck going down interstate, back doors partially open / flapping some, and what look like water splashing out all over the place.

was not able to make company / lettering on the large box truck. and could not tell if chemicals or not.

to much traffic around me to do much, beyond call it in. i was already locked in for my own exit ramp. and as folks passed me, they ended up crowding me as they saw the large box truck and began breaking in front of me. handful of them saw a chance and zipped on by it. assuming they had to keep on going on the interstate in same direction.

i hate calling 911, due to they all been about non emergencies for most part. and i do not know local police / fire / ambulance numbers. so end up stating "not life threatening / emergency" a couple times been placed on hold after stating such. then come back shortly there after, and they take my info, couple times been placed on hold mid sentence. no real biggy and they are doing there job. rather them take a life threatening situation over some yada yada.

some has been fires over the years...

some about animals loose, some about trespassing. ((thankfully owner of property is no longer the owner))

 

[LD1]

Always Wonder if the sherrifs or highway patrol actually respond to these calls, and if so, what the outcomes are.

 

[k0ua]

Always Wonder if the sherrifs or highway patrol actually respond to these calls, and if so, what the outcomes are.

My experience in the sheriff's department was over 35 years ago, but Yes, we did most certainly respond, unless tied up on something more critical or life threatening. We tried our best to get to the location or estimated travel point.

 

[LD1]

, unless tied up on something more critical or life threatening.

Thats what I am getting at. Most police and sherrifs departments around here claim to be terribly short-staffed