Have you ever called to report aggressive driving?

Well, I have never called 911, but I did call the 'How's my driving' number after seeing a semi-truck driving recklessly.

 

I can only recall one time, this delivery truck was driving like an absolute lunatic--
cutting people off, weaving, tailgating... you name it.

I got his truck number and called the delivery company and was able to speak to
his dispatcher. He knew which truck it was and he did NOT sound happy. I told him
that I *never* call to fink on people but this guy was an exception.

I can only hope that guy got torn a new one. He was an accident waiting to happen.

 

actually I called the cops on some "kids" the other day, I was driving down Yonge Street(longest street in the world) and there was three teenagers infront of me heckling another teenager riding his bike on the road in front of their car, well first let me say I HATE people biking on the road but they have a right to be there so after watching these three kids FORCE the rider onto the sidewalk they proceedes to THROW SOMETHING AT HIS HEAD causing the kid to fall off his bike! now I am not a fan of the cops or dumbasses like this so called 911 and gave the plate number and told the story and they said they would try and find a car in the area, I never heard back from them so don't know what happened.

And another time I was driving with some friends down to Miami and a drunk driver flew passed us and proceeded to hit about 8 cars not including a tractor-trailer, so we called 911 and spoke with the operator giving direction and following from WAY back until a cruiser saw us and the drunk driver and proceeded to pull him over and again never heard anything else about it as they never called like they said they would.

 

On drunks, yes.

 

I did the same thing when a Cox Cable van nearly ran me down on the interstate in the rain.

 

Gotta dodge those reckless Cox.

 

whats the fun in that ?

 

Called the cops when I passed someone on the interstate going the wrong way. It was about 10 AM on a Sunday morning so my guess would be more confused old folks than drunken idiots but you never know.

 

Didn't call 911, called the non-emergency line on some asshat that threw something at our car and possibly drunk.

He proceeded to run a red light, I honked when he almost got t-boned and the other driver missed him, then when the light turned green, I went ahead on my way, and the dude was basically driving like 15-20 miles per hour on a 55, so I passed and he sped up, and then started looking at me, pretending to write my plate down, then at another intersection, he looked like he was looking for stuff to throw, and threw something out which sounded like a coin, he turned at the same intersection, little did he know, I memorized his plate numbers and called him in. He looked drunk, and was driving like he was drunk.

 

Yep, in the States and here in Europe.

 

A few years ago, I called in on the non-emergency line to report a car driving with 4 kids basically jumping around an old Olds 88, early late 80's. These kids were like 2-6 years old. I was like, someone has got to tell that women she cannot drive around with her kids(?) on the loose like that. If she got in an accident, the kids would have been the real vicims.

Thats it. I can tolerate alot of crazy driving, but whe I saw these kids unbelted, I went in to protector mode.

 

*Manufacturer* plates? If this was in Maranello or Milano, the cops are used to it.

If you meant dealer's plates, that could have been someone giving a car a real test drive.



But either way, that "too fast" was your *opinion*. What we deem "too fast" is based on "faster than I'd risk". But maybe the other guy has different standards.

(In theory, the objective standard is the speed limit. But we've seen too many places where that's set for revenue enhancement (e.g. 25 mph on the main commuting route, or 35 mph on a seven lane highway.) or political correctness (e.g. 55).)


Many years back, I was pushing it a bit, driving up the southern GSP in a car rigged up for rallye. (The GSP was originally built for 70 mph, before the 55 laws.) I was near the edge of double digits, but some guy in a rusty Buick went past me like I was standing still. It seemed like he was only touching down a wheel every ten yards or so.

Now there's no way I'd risk driving a car like that at such a pace.

But he was keeping it (more or less) between the lines.

.... which is more than I can say for DC drivers at 20 mph these days.

Don't assume that everyone else has the same limits as yourself.
The guy in front of you might not be comfortable with the pace you find reasonable.
The guy trying to pass might be comfortable well past your limits ....

Don't call the cops on him; move over and let him pass.

Don't "see red", see a blue flag.

 

No, that would be a pretty ****** bag thing to do. Why get someones work involved? Either way, you couldn't prove anything.

 

I've recently given up calling. For all of the money cities and states put into traffic/red-light cameras they certainly don't give two ****s (I'm only going to assume that other countries are the same as what I've experienced in the U.S.) about some concerned citizen providing free tips on bigger offenses. One of the first times I called I was on the interstate and phoned in to report two riced out cars racing/speeding (90+ in a 65), passing on the shoulder, rapid lane changes/cutting people off, and tailgating everyone that got in their way. I remember quite vividly, as do all of the other people in the car, having the 911 operator call me an ******* at the end of the call. Last year I called in to report a drunk driver (had to of been confirmed) on the same stretch of interstate. The van was constantly adjusting speed (55-75), swerving in the lane and occasionally running off the road (and other vehicles that went to pass them) and the thing that did it in for me and prompted the call was the Fosters can that flew out the window after witnessing the above. Not having anything better to do I phoned it in and followed the driver from a far and didn't witness a single cop for the 35 minutes I was behind them, even after we passed (about midway) a state police outpost. They simply don't care so I've stopped calling.

 

A couple of years ago I called in a beer delivery truck that was being driven very, very dangerously on the freeway. I caught up with him on the offramp and shouted at him, he just stared at me. I got the license number and the truck ID number. When I called the distribution company (not the cops) I told them what I had seen, and asked them to please, please make the driver take a pee test as soon as he got back. They were very nice about it, and contacted me the next day. They told me, "We can't tell you what we did, but you would be satisfied."

 

I said calling the guys company would be a ***** thing to do. Call the cops. Calling his company is just **** stirring for the hell of it.

 

I disagree completely with the previous post by nishil. Other opinions?

 

But it didn't, did it?

By that theory, we shouldn't be driving down the street, because we might not stop at the stop sign.

And which is more dangerous: the attentive driver in the sports car, or the soccer mom chatting on the cell phone while turning to yell at the kids in a two ton SUV?


Anytime you have a heavy machine propelled by 300-500 HP controlled manually, there is the potential for things to go wrong.
Having a train propelled by computers also has the potential for things to go wrong.
But then, an asteroid could kill us all off like the dinosaurs, too.
The one lesson you get from life is that nobody gets out of it alive.

Rule 1: Spit happens. Rule 2: You can't change rule 1.

So many sleezoid politicos keep promising to make all bad things happen far, far away, that people are actually starting to think that the good life can be guaranteed. But this is hiding from life in a padded room, rather than accepting the bad with the good.

If you take the "reasonable precaution" argument far enough, you have genetic criminal treatment: going after people whose DNA indicates that they might be inclined to commit a crime in the future.

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." -- Benjamin Franklin.

How do you prove that you "need" to own a Ferrari in a city? Once you have to justify your life to the committee for public safety, there's no happy ending. Especially when that committee is self-elected.


** HOWEVER ***

On the more specific case, the OP didn't mention which city. Detroit? Georgia (Toyota)? Normal, IL (Diamond-Star)? I heard VW was going to open a new plant somewhere in PA. Or one of the ports where cars enter the US (CA, NJ)?

If this *is* a case of a new car plant or an importer letting journalists do "track tests" on the local roads, perhaps this is something that should get attention. As I mentioned earlier: in Italy, most of the locals already know that cars will come roaring out of the car plants for a lively "test run" on public roads. That situation has been around a long time. But at a new plant it's something you can stop before it becomes a tradition.

You might want to ask at a town meeting or ask a local politician to look into it, or you might want to check with the plant to see if they're turning reporters loose in their machines. Perhaps the mfr doesn't know how hard the journalists are pushing the test machines.

Or, more helpfully, see if you can connect a local track with the manufacturer so there's someplace safe to "road" test the mfr's cars. I remember when a magazine road tested the new EVO 8 -- they got into the CA mountains and found out the hard way that the stock Yokos are useless in snow. Notice that Top Gear uses a track they laid out on an airfield. Maybe advise the auto plant of an abandoned air strip in the area.


But if it's just one driver pushing the limits, what'll happen more often is that he'll scare himself without hurting anyone, and then back off in the future.