What Do You Do When You Are Behind An Impaired Driver?

This evening, we had a frustrating event happen to us while
driving home this fine Saturday night. The
three of us had finished a shopping trip to Sam’s and were on our way home
traveling on I-295, when in front of us, a truck started veering out of its
lane. Then as cars tried to pass it on
the left side, the driver would meander into that car’s lane. So as we are
approaching the Buckman Bridge, Jay calls 911 to report this erratic driver.
The Buckman Bridge has been the scene of several very horrible accidents. We get the 911 operator on the line and give
her all the information and while we are doing this, we pass one State Patrol
officer at the beginning of the bridge. That
officer was evidently not informed of the knucklehead in front of us. The
driver continues onto the bridge where many drivers try to get around him and luckily
do. All the while we are giving the
operator the information and then, amazingly, a local police car came by
him. We think this is great but the police
drive on by and the driver in the truck starts to drive like he is off to
Sunday school. All the while, we are still on the phone being transferred to
different operators in the next county. As we travel along I-295 giving information of
location and play by play of the swerving and swaying, the operator then has to
relay other information about another call to a coworker. Someone had called screaming because someone
was hitting another person with a baseball bat.
Then she comes back to us as we make the turn down I-95 watching the
truck straddle the centerline. Shortly
we are heading into the next county and we are transferred to a new operator. By
this time we have driven 20 miles past our destination and we are still talking
with the 911 operators. All the while
the truck continues on its path obviously watched over by an army of angels
from heaven. We talk with the 911
operators for a few more minutes giving them all the information we can. Now we know that shortly an officer will find
this menace but after two more exits and a total of 30 miles nothing. Short of following him to Key West we decide
to turn and head home. I hope that the driver either meets officers soon or gets
to where he is going.
I know that the
police and 911 operators have a tough job and that resources are limited but I
feel confused on what else we could do.
It seems that the officers are not connected to a central 911 dispatch
office and that makes their jobs impossible. Plus, the other crimes that were
being committed have a more immediate need. Being an officer or a 911 dispatcher has to
be such a tough job, but I still wish this driver had been caught. As Jay
pointed out, they knew he was out there.