Report Drunk Drivers Call 911

[x42bnx]

Let me share my experience with everyone, I don't speak for everyone but only the few times I've had to actually report a drunk driver(s).

First time - coming home late at night on a Wed, about 11:30 at night on 880S passing the Coliseum, I spot a Jeep who can barely stay in his lane. I didn't think much of it, sometimes texting/distracted. This was more than that, he was swerving, drifting off the highway onto the shoulder, into other drivers lanes. I called and reported him, after about ten minutes I recalled them and let them know that he was endangering himself and those around him. They told me they are putting a BOL out and they had a unit in the area - this guy got off on A Street and ran two red lights and made his way home.

Next week, coming home late again on Wed I run into this same gentleman. Same license plate, same driving behavior. I call again after watching him for a few minutes, except this time he drifted into the right lane and pushed a Camry off the shoulder and impacted the wall and he kept on going. I called to let them know he had caused a collision, they took his plate number and any other information. He got off on A St again and probably made it home.


Coming home Friday night from the drive in's in San Jose - A black dodge charger gets on the freeway at 100MPH and almost takes out a pick up truck. This guy was flat drunk, no other way to explain it. He must have blacked out because we all watched him drift across four lanes of traffic with no fucks given. I reported this driver twice. About fifteen minutes apart, once when he first got on and when he was getting off onto freeway to let them know he will probably make it home - or pick up friends and continue his journey/potentially kill someone.


Is this shit all a PR thing? The signs on the highway? Because I fail to see people getting caught DUI unless it's a checkpoint. I've pretty much given up reporting anyone from now on out, it seems if your going to drink & drive you may as well hop on the freeway. The way the guy was driving the other night, a motorcyclist wouldn't have stood a chance. He would have been fucked.

Rant over.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

I see them all the time going home from work at 1-3am and going to work from 3-4am.

I call quite often, give the cops plenty of details, directions, hell, I've given them the address of where they pull into. Never see them respond, have never had one pulled over.

I also followed a guy from Sacramento to Napa one time, calling every 20 minutes or when he almost or did hit something. No response at all from 3 different dispatches.

I grow tired of calling it in every time, but I also have lost too many friends to drunk drivers and can't stand seeing them weaving, swerving, over correcting. :bs

 

[DTM74]

PIT maneuver for safety

 

[EastBayDave]

call it in anyway, you may save lives after you lose sight of him....

Lost a close friend in HS after he drifted off to the right & ran into a parked semi. He was decapitated. Hurts ever time I think of this happy/go-lucky guy....so sad.

 

[Oakland675R]

This is why I avoid driving at those hours, although someone could be drinking and driving at anytime I feel like I help my chances by not riding at 2 AM on my bike if i I can avoid it.

 

[rsrider]

You are being trained for the time when it is no longer "report drunk drivers" but "report suspicious behavior". The indoctrination continues, ja?

 

[MikeyRocks]

I've called in a few drunk drivers, probably around 6 or 7. Of those calls, only one was effective in resulting in an arrest. Stayed on the phone with dispatch as the driver exited the freeway and parked at a Trader Joe's parking lot, moments later Pinole PD was on the scene. I parked across the street at a gas station as I watched them administer the field sobriety test and place the driver in cuffs moments later. This was on NYE, busy night for LEO's, I couldn't believe my call was actually effective.

But all the other times I tried to call in a DUI, nothing happened. It does get frustrating, however I understand that cops can't be everywhere you need them to be. It's frustrating to watch someone drive erratically endangering others and feel like nothing is being done about it.

Keep calling them in if you see them, eventually if even one leads to an arrest, then you've done the community some good.

 

[Hawaiirider]

Called one in years ago and was following when she drifted left across an intersection and went head-on into the center-divider. I can still recall the helpless feeling that she was about to kill somebody. The hood from her Tahoe ejected and flopped down onto the hood of the first car in the left-turn lane - THAT must have been special...

Yeah - those fuckers are everywhere. This was an early evening in August - nothing special.

 

[GAJ]

Wow, this is discouraging.

Checkpoints seem to be their preference I guess.

Kind of sad to be honest.

 

[Go2Trackdays]

So if you have to drive late at night, be in a REALLY large vehicle, like a delivery truck or a semi with a trailer full of cinder blocks

 

[/dev/null]

So if you have to drive late at night, be in a REALLY large vehicle, like a delivery truck or a semi with a trailer full of cinder blocks

+1

I got side swiped in my Tacoma by a drunk driver on San Pablo Dam Rd., by the Lytton Casino. Driver just sped up, ran 2 red lights and hopped on I-80E. I didn't think a late 80s Accord could do 100mph+ but they did until the uphill. One of the passengers was tossing huge wads of napkins out the window to try to discourage me. I caught up to them got the plate and contacted San Pablo PD. Officers said the plate wasn't even in the system. I guess it's a fairly common thing in these parts to steal registration stickers and use a bogus plate.

 

[DTM74]

Heading from Livermore to Pleasanton down Stanley Blvd. I was behind a 70s K5 Blazer and dude was veering all over both lanes...even jumped the curb to the median. As I slowed down to stay back, driver veered right into a telephone pole on the right and flipped end over end (nose/tail).

Driver was ejected out of the vehicle and came to a sliding stop. He was bloody & breathing rapidly going into shock when we all got to him. His vehicle smelled like a brewery. Budweiser and Wild Turkey...

 

[Marcoose]

Stand outside of Alice's on a sunny warm afternoon and there'll be nothing but DUI reporting.

 

[x42bnx]

Yeah, I agree with everyone here. Basically the sign means,
"Report it, we will do our best" which more often than not.. is nothing at all.

I bet if I said he was firing rounds into the air, he would have the bird overhead in no time. :rofl

 

[Rel]

Keep calling them in if you see them, eventually if even one leads to an arrest, then you've done the community some good.

I call quite often, give the cops plenty of details, directions, hell, I've given them the address of where they pull into. Never see them respond, have never had one pulled over.

I grow tired of calling it in every time, but I also have lost too many friends to drunk drivers and can't stand seeing them weaving, swerving, over correcting. :bs

When I worked graveyard in San Jose, on a good night, we'd have 5 cars out on the road. Yes, 5 cars, 10 CHP officers on duty to cover the entire San Jose Area.

Now I work near Yosemite. I have 500 square miles to cover by myself. There are times I get a call of a possible DUI driver in my area, but it's an hour away.

We, LEOs, grow tired of someone following a possible DUI driver and just as we get into position, the caller stops following because they're at their exit.

If you, we *meaning society*, really want to end DUI driving, we have to make the penalties much more sever.

Upon conviction of DUI, impound and crush the car.

You dont need a driver license to drive drunk, you need a car.

In the bay area, the entire bay area, I would estimate that there are 100 CHP officers on duty during the night for all of the highways, freeways, and unincorporated area of a population of 7.5 Million.

We can't be everywhere, but sometimes we're right there and we never know it because the citizens dont call it in.

 

[Marcoose]

I have 500 square miles to cover by myself.

That's crazy!

If you, we *meaning society*, really want to end DUI driving, we have to make the penalties much more sever.

Upon conviction of DUI, impound and crush the car.

You dont need a driver license to drive drunk, you need a car.

While not opposed to that, breathalyzers in every auto and self-driving would help too.

 

[gixxerjeff]

Upon conviction of DUI, impound and crush the car.
You dont need a driver license to drive drunk, you need a car.

This just makes too much damn sense.

 

[Rel]

That's crazy!

While not opposed to that, breathalyzers in every auto and self-driving would help too.

I've arrested people who were DUI and had a interlock device in the car where the passenger blew into the tube and STILL let the drunk drive.

The only way to end DUI driving is to remove the drunk from the car.

Crush the car, no matter what the car is...... Im not going to let my drunk uncle take out my ( expensive car ) car if there's a chance its going to get crushed.

 

[Rel]

This just makes too much damn sense.

And society does not have the stomach for that type of punishment.

That is the problem.

Society does not want to end drunk driving. Its a tolerated evil.

 

[clutchslip]

Now I work near Yosemite. I have 500 square miles to cover by myself. There are times I get a call of a possible DUI driver in my area, but it's an hour away.


In the bay area, the entire bay area, I would estimate that there are 100 CHP officers on duty during the night for all of the highways, freeways, and unincorporated area of a population of 7.5 Million.....

It does seem like there are proportionately fewer CHP than there were years, ago.

You need to get one of these traffic enforcement vehicles. Screw that hour sheet. (from my post in Photos, etc.)

youtu.be/jCBEX-ZaQP8