Drivers against drunk drivers

I spent last night following a drunk driver on I20.

Mom and I were on our way back from Florida and happened to notice an SUV in front of us having trouble staying in one lane. We were several miles east of Tyler. This means we were in the middle of nowhere. At first I thought maybe he was on the phone, or tuning his radio, or looking for something. But after ruling out most of the options I came to the conclusion that the guy was just plain drunk.

I first noticed him as he was passing me on my left. He caught my attention when he pulled his SUV within inches of the side of my car. I veered to my right to let him pass without our cars touching. A slight bump at 70 MPH could be disastrous. He passed and then got in front of me. Well, at times he was in front of me. Sometimes he was smack dab in the middle of the highway, other times he was just shy of the median running down the middle of the highway, but he was definitely not in his lane. He would turn on his right blinker and then pass someone on the left. He'd put on his left blinker and then switch to the right lane. The guy was clearly confused.

Mom and I debated calling 911. I told her how I had recently listened to a talk-radio show where they were discussing this very situation. A man called in identifying himself as a police officer and stated that if everybody on the road called in a drunk driver they spotted, then the police would be bogged down by these calls chasing random drivers. He implied that calling in on suspected drunk drivers would tie up so many officers that crucial emergencies would not be tended to as soon as necessary.

I decided against calling. He had actually accelerated so much that he was miles ahead anyway. I couldn't give an exact location and there was a chance he was already off the road. I figured he had to be close to home. Why would someone drink a ton of alcohol and then take a road trip? But guess who cut me off about ten minutes later while getting back on the highway? A black Nissan SUV.

I knew it was the same guy within seconds because he immediately began swerving. This was unbelievable. It could have been my imagination, but he seemed even worse than before. He'd speed up, slow down, and was all over the highway. I called 911.

I felt stupid. What if it was stupid to be calling in? After all, this was about 10 P.M. on New Year's Eve. The state troopers had to be tied up, right? But the dispatcher didn't dismiss my call at all. I explained the situation, and she surprisingly wanted a lot of information. I told her that I had been following this guy for over thirty minutes, about him exiting and getting back on, about his specialized license plate. She asked for my phone number in case she needed to reach me again. I gave her our exact location.

I figured nothing would come of it. And then the guy exited. I contemplated following him but decided against it. I had called for help and hopefully they would take it from there. And then my cell phone rang. It was her again. She asked where we were now. I told her what exit I had just passed and let her know that he had taken that exit. I thought I had seen him pull into the gas station. And then I saw a state trooper on the shoulder of the road. I told her I was passing a trooper and she said that he was waiting on that black SUV. Next thing I know, she is stating all kinds of codes, the trooper pulls a u-turn and heads back up the service road. He was actually going back up the road to get him!

After hanging up, my mother and I were kind of surprised. I know we did the right thing, but mostly I am happy that the guy was going to be safe, as well as all of the other people on the road.

Just after midnight I was on my way home after dropping Mom off. I saw a lot of flashing lights. On the opposite side of the highway I saw several wrecked cars and one that was overturned. Tons of people were standing around and there were two firetrucks and multiple police cars. The ambulances must have already left. I just hope everyone is okay.

I am no saint. I don't know anyone who is. But after seeing the SUV on the highway out in the middle of nowhere Texas, and then seeing an overturned car in the middle of Dallas, my eyes are open. We see signs everywhere reminding us not to drink and drive- commercials, billboards, and magazine ads. We hear it so much that it's almost ignorable. And I think we all intend to do the right thing, but it's after we have been drinking when the problems arise. While sober we know we won't drink and drive. But when drunk we don't realize we are. We always think we'll be fine. Because when our thinking is impaired, we have impaired thinking. What we need to do is look out for each other. We can't just rely on ourselves to do the right thing, we have to rely on others. I know I will keep that in mind the next time I am out with friends.