Tonight, on my drive home from work along I-90, a pickup truck in front of me began swerving erratically all over his lane. At first, I thought they must just be talking on their cell phone, changing cds, or maybe they were simply a woman driver. However, this erratic behavior did not stop; they swerved left onto the rumble strips, then they would swerve back to the right and encroach on the neighboring lane. They would also randomly hit their brakes while travelling in the left-most lane with nobody in front of them.
I decided that the driver was either drunk or dying, so I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number for the Ohio Hwy Patrol (1-877-7-PATROL).
When a dispatcher answered, I explained the situation to her. She then asked me if I was in Ashtabula county. I told her I was nowhere near Ashtabula county, that I was currently in Elyria, just east of Rt-57. The dispatcher told me to wait while she transferred me.
The Elyria police dispatcher then came on the line and I again repeated the situation
with the truck in front of me. By this time, I was just approaching Rt-611 which is almost to Avon. The Elyria dispatcher told me that since I was almost in Avon, she was going to transfer me to the Avon police department.
When the Avon police dispatcher came on the line, she was so quiet that I could barely hear her over the noise of traffic (even with my cell phone volume turned up to full volume). Even though I could barely understand what she was saying, I explained the situation with the dangerous pickup truck for a third time, and gave the woman a description of the vehicle and the license plate number.
I think that the woman said that she would have somebody look into the situation, but I can't be certain. By this time, however, the truck was just approaching the Crocker Rd exit which marks the beginning of Westlake, and Cuyahoga County.
Unless the Avon (Lorain Cty) police put out an APB into Cuyahoga Cty, I have a feeling this guy was never going to be stopped.
I got off the highway at this point though, so I guess we'll never know.
My point of this story is this: In an era of increased homeland security concern, how can still be stuck in a situation where our police departments have no way to track somebody as they cross from city to city on an expressway?
When I spoke to the Ohio Highway Patrol dispatcher, why did they care if I was in Ashtabula county??? Shouldn't the Ohio Hwy Patrol cover all of the highway's in OHIO???
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3 comments:
"We want all Ohio motorists to help out with homeland security. If you see a reckless driver, suspicious activities, or even a stranded motorist, call the Patrol at 1-877-7-PATROL, or cellular *DUI. In Ohio, the toll-free number 1-877-7-PATROL is routed to the closest Highway Patrol Post, and calls can help us dispatch a trooper as quickly as possible."
I wrote an email to the OH Hwy Patrol informing them of their inefficiency after this incident.
I got a phone call today from a Lt. w/ the Elyria office of the Hwy patrol who told me that the 877 numbers act funny on cell phones - and that I must have connected to an Ashtabula county tower from Lorain county (yea right buddy...look at an Ohio map and then tell me that)
He was otherwise very nice and explained that in a situation where the driver is causing a hazard to other drivers, I should have just called 911.
I guess then I'd be taking my chances w/ getting connected to a local office via 911 on a cell phone.
On a side note, the WSJ had an interesting article today about VoIP phone systems not being able to connect to the 911 system. Definately a dealbreaker until that's resolved.
Sure, call 911... unless you get this guy
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