Police asking for our help? Report drunk drivers. Call 911?

Here in California for the holidays we have these huge signs..I think they are over 20 feet tall, I mean huge. and they are placed all over the freeways. It reads. "Report drunk drivers. call 911" it's also all over the radio. Regular citizens making 911 calls and working with police.


Now i'm all for helping out the police, but how am I supposed to know if someone is driving drunk? It's dark and I can't see inside their car. what am I looking for? I am not a cop, and I'm not stupid, but i've seen people drive crazy! I can't be sure if they are drinking and driving. So what are you looking for in a drunk driver?

[edit on 25-12-2007 by jedimiller]

edit: Never mind, stupid post.

[edit on 25-12-2007 by TheoOne]

I hope people see the irony here.

People gawking around, not paying attention to their own driving, using their cell phones while driving distracted to call in an alleged drunk.

Meanwhile some soccer mom in a gigantic SUV yakking on her cellphone runs a cyclist off the road and gets off with a warning because '(she) didn't see them...'.

I saw one in the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods that took six minutes to pull out of a freakin' parking space - the car was so big and she so unable to maneuver, that she had to go backwards and forwards multiple times, turning the wheels while stationary, trying to get out of a space and onto the road.

As she drove off, (yeah, on the phone while she was doing all this), I shouted 'Get a Bigger Car...', laughing my butt off.

Hi The one. Merry Christmas. yeah it sounds like common sense. but I was wondering, where you are..do they have these signs as well? because I think it's just in california where caltrans is spending millions to do this. this year it's everywhere.


I found this page. from california..

www.ots.ca.gov...


it's an actual governement page. they give you some tips. the question I also have, should the public be doing this and isn't it unconstitutional?

[edit on 25-12-2007 by jedimiller]

reply to post by jedimiller


Isn't this a typical method of intrusion? Identify a behavior that most of us find abhorrent, then talk the citizens into ratting out their fellow Americans - something they'd ordinarily not do.

As you can probably tell I loathe bad driving, drunk driving, cellphone distracted driving, but I'm not sure I'm ready to start 'turning people in' on a vague suspicion.

Is this website and the instructions unconstitutional? Huh? I'm not sure I get what you mean. It certainly seems fascist, but I suppose the cops can ask you to do all sorts of things and it's up to you if you comply. (note the fingerprinting going on in today's breaking news posts)

Can you clarify?

Not sure if they still have them, but in Arizona, they had huge signs that said, "Drive Hammered, get Nailed."

If you have ever lost anyone you loved to a drunk driver, calling in for a person who weaves in and out of traffic, tailgates, or can't stay in the lines makes perfect sense to me.

Even if they are not drunk, they are a hazard to other drivers, too!

I called about a drunk driver recently. I followed him for about 50 miles. No one ever stopped him. Not one squad showed up.

The police can bite me. I went out of my way to help stop the guy and they completely ignored him. Never again.

This is the one exception to my rule: I will call the cop's from my car if I see a drunk driver. If not, and the drunk slams into a car full of someones babies and kills them, the people who ignored it are culpable in a moral way. It is easy to see a drunk driver: They weave over the lines and cannot steer straight. They usually cannot maintain a constant speed and will slow down and speed up..but the biggest tip is the weaving.

If we can get stupid drinkers off the roads totally, we are all better off. But this is the ONLY thing that deserves the cop's to be called: When someone is placing others in grave danger.

Jedi take off your blinders.
You seriously don't know what a drunk driver looks like?

Here is an illustration:
Straight safer driver --------------------------------[0]
Drunk Driver -_-__-_-_-_-_-_-----__---__--__---[CRASH]
An herbally intoxicated safe driver -------------------------------[Whoa! WTH?!?! Dude!]

I couldn't illustrate the last driver going ten miles under the speed limit.
Studies in Calafornia showed the final driver of my illustration to be as safer or safer than sober drivers.

I lived next to a bar, called in several people who shouldn't be driving.
One time the people backed out of the parking lot and the only thing
preventing them from swimming in the river was a small tree.
Cops let them go. WTH!?!

From Alchol Alert

There were 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 – 39 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year.

Wikipedia

Over 500,000 people were injured in alcohol-related accidents in the US in 2003.

Do your local police a favor, and just do a drive by shooting on drunk drivers.

Jedi



I gave you heat about you being wrong about High Definition,
HD DVD and Blu-Ray...

But you are right about this phenomenon, and I applaud you posting this.

Here is the deal, as I see it.

With the ubiquity of cell phones, it is a good thing we can report problems
to authorities...

But, as Jedi correctly points out- who can really tell as we drive past someone?

JUST LAST WEEK,
I was called in to the STATE POLICE as a drunk driver.

I was cruising down I-76 in Philadelphia,
the main highway.

Doing 65, the limit. 3 in the afternoon. Not a drop to drink.

I am pulled over by a police car LYING IN WAIT by the side of the road-
for me...

He reports to me that they were called in by someone concerned I was drunk.

He saw I wasn't- cause I didn't have a drink that day.

Here is the funny/weird part...

I was called in on because I swerved twice.

Why did I swerve, just a little, twice?

By 2 year old, having a tantrum, in the car seat in the back.

I turned to calm, give him a blanky and a water cup, and generally soothe him, and the result was the smallest swerve- a swerve that endangered no one, because no one was next to me- cause I checked first before dealing with my child.

Anyway- the cop was super cool- let me go with an APOLOGY,
and I was totally nice back- he is just doing his job.

Butn it felt a little weird...

AS IF... FOR REAL... BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING... and CALLING...

TPM

reply to post by HighDefinitionFilms


I applaud whomever called you in to the police. You were swerving as you pointed out. Your child was distracting you and you should have pulled off the road to do all you detailed for your child. You not only put other drivers at risk, but your child also by what you did.

edit to add:

The person who witnessed you swerving had no idea if you were drunk or not but was concerned enough for your safety, and whomever else was on the road that day. Funny, you said you checked, yet somebody observed you swerving. You should feel blessed that somebody cared that much.

[edit on 25-12-2007 by Enthralled Fan]

Originally posted by HighDefinitionFilms


I was called in on because I swerved twice.

Why did I swerve, just a little, twice?

By 2 year old, having a tantrum, in the car seat in the back.

Sorry to heard about that, wouldn't you like to know who called on you? make him look like a fool.

I hope I don't see the day where other people start shooting other drivers just because they THINK they are drunk, like Mr. Horn did. I'm glad people like legalizer doens't live here in california, i'm sure he'd take off his shotgun and shoot me, because I swerved..

reply to post by Enthralled Fan

I applaud whomever called you in to the police.

I agree. You could have killed someone over a tantrum. Brilliant.

oh come on. You don't kill people by swerving. I've done that numerous times, and not drunk. You shouldn't have people calling on your for things like that. if that's the case, I should call the police and tell them about my mom, cause she's slow and senior driver and she swerves alot. I just don't think we should be doing their job..not getting paid for it.

reply to post by jedimiller


Uhm, yes, you can kill people by swerving. If you happen to go into oncoming traffic, you either have a head on, or the other person has to swerve also to avoid you. So tell the victims of accidents due to somebody swerving that the action won't kill anybody.

There is a reason why the roads are painted with lines. If you cross over them then you are swerving.

As for your Mom, there comes a time when a person should no longer be driving. It sounds as though she is ready for a bus pass. You ought to suggest this to her before she kills herself or some other innocent person.

I wish people would wake up and realize how easy it is for a car doing highway speeds (and actually at lower speeds) to become unstable and end up rolling, unable to recover from a swerve.

Look at the way an SUV can go into a swerve and oversteer, ending up rolling and landing on the roof.

The typical accident from this type of thing is to compress fracture the driver's head/neck and they end up paralyzed.

Drivers tend to think they are 'entitled' to drive as fast as possible.

Just yesterday, I'm riding up from the end of a dead end street, cars parked on both side of the road, and really only room for one car.

A driver comes toward me speeding at 35mph, and I just held my line, which gave him room to go by. But it's SO narrow, the he ends up gripping the steering wheel and making little panicked back-and-forth motions with the steering wheel so he could 'thread' the needle and go by.

It NEVER EVEN occurred to him to slow the freak down and control his movement that way. Who the HELL needs to drive 35mph down the last 100 yds of a freakin' dead end street?

I see it all the time. Drivers come up to a pinch point on a narrow rural road with a 25mph speed limit, and see a lady walking a baby and me riding by the other way on the other side of the street and they SPEED UP to try and pass the lady walking the baby before I get there and create a minor pinch point all because they just can't understand they should slow down instead and watch out for pedestrians. The lady could have stumbled and turned an ankle, or started to drift out further into the road, or the driver could have blown a tire.

Drivers just seem to think what they're seeing out the window is some kind of video game and not a real world were things can go wrong.

Sorry about the rant, but c'mon people - get it under control fercryinoutloud.


Edit: BTW, I have little hope since here we see posted above that someone has so little appreciation of the dangerous forces involved in driving even at 25 or 35 mph, or faster, that they'd endanger the life of their own child rather than pull over and give them a drink or a blanket when it's safe to do so.

Most people think they're good drivers, but studies have shown that they're greatly exaggerating their perception of their skills.


[edit on 26-12-2007 by Badge01]

Originally posted by jedimiller
oh come on. You don't kill people by swerving. I've done that numerous times, and not drunk. You shouldn't have people calling on your for things like that. if that's the case, I should call the police and tell them about my mom, cause she's slow and senior driver and she swerves alot. I just don't think we should be doing their job..not getting paid for it.

You don't kill people by swerving?? Are you serious? That isa foolish statement, totally. Swerving is DEADLY. If you leave your lane at all, you are creating a DANGER. ANY violation that places you in the path of another car is dangerous.That is as silly as saying that drinking will not get you drunk..silliness. I pray I never have to drive around you, OR the guy who swerves on the road because he is too lazy to stop the car to turn around and deal with a child..very unsafe..very wrong.

I, have yet to see anyone drive a SUV straight, drunk or sober. Throw in a couple of DVD players and a navagational system, your driving a loaded weapon. It's just as bad as a drunk driver.

I, noticed alot of people who talk on mobile phones,drive 5-10 miles under the normal posted speed limit just like a drunk driver. A taxi, or a DD is alot cheaper than a DUI.

I, think the person would have to be swerving excessively before I would call 911. Because, there are to many bad sober drivers on the road.

Hell, I don't hesitate to "dob-in" dangerous behaviour.

Granted, I don't live in The Land-of-Freedom, so my dobbing in might not do much good...

But as a parent (with friends who've suffered the loss of children due to stupid drivers), I don't think thrice about contacting the police to request an investigation into dangerous behaviour.

F