We followed a Drunk Driver.....

[blk6t]

As the title suggests...we were heading back after a fantastic night out from Swedish House Mafia concert (which was unreal...) to the Brewery for a few before lock out.

We finally decided to head home at the early hours of 2am...driving west on Windsor Rd from Rouse Hill (locals will know the road). Usually this road is haunted with cops hiding to frequently setting up RBT's, but not tonight.

Driving back we approach a slower driving Prado, all over the road, almost hit a car traveling next to him...for those that don't know, Winsdor Rd is dual way all the way to Windsor.

This got out attention first, we followed this car with caution, every time he swerved off the road a little, we flashed our lights and this got the drivers attention enough for a little. We were getting very concerned, very quickly and called Hawkesbury LAC Police direct and informed them of the vehicle, number plates etc...we got told, they will send someone out...were still following cautiously out of our way now to make sure this person gets picked up...nothing yet...

We made it to Windsor and went over the Hawkesbury River, following the driver in awe that no police had yet caught up to us...

On the horizon we see red and blue flashing lights (this road has no turn offs as were approaching Putty Rd...), we thought "FINALLY" the cops are setting up a to get this drunk driver who by now has spent more time off the road than on the road...

We turn a bend and see the HWP had another car pulled over, turned his lights off and drove straight past us...to say I was ****ed was an understatement...we called Windsor LAC again and told them the HWP car just drove past us...we demanded they tell the car to turn around and catch up..."yeah we will" said the police...

Nothing...we entered Wilberforce and started turning off onto side streets still following this clearly drunk driver...out of amazement a P plater behind us, over took us and the "drunk driver" over double lines, almost hitting the swerving Prado in front....

We had had enough and pulled back before we end up in a collision with this idiot on the road...we were on some very quiet rural back roads and our safety became paramount so we reluctantly turned around headed home...

I am just amazed that people still take these risks these days and beyond astonished that the Police appeared to do very little to get this guy off the roads...

To be honest I am few up and at the point where I don't want to drive around the Hawkesbury's rural roads late at night....

Had to vent I guess, sorry for the long winded story...

[buddy92]

I've seen this quite a few times, I've even called the police and had the same thing happen. I live directly across the road from a Bowling Club and the amount of idiots I see coming out of there and nearly smacking into poles and swerving everywhere is unreal. I lost a good mate because he decided to drink drive and I told him I do not support drinking and driving so I politely walked home and called the police on my own friend.

Not to mention the burnouts that happen aswell.

Sure does **** you off alot.

[pundit]

I once followed someone who was going 65 in a 60 zone.. Man was I mad!

[Sorted]

My thoughts:- Drunk Drivers aren't classed as "Hoons" as they can't impond their car so obviously not high on their target agenda

Innocent until proven guilty

Just imagine how busy the courts would be if so called "Hoons" were treated as equal not scum of the earth

[Sam_Boss260]

Should have told the police "that he was swerving all over the road, then he waved a hand gun outside his window and you were scared of your safety"

[baboon]

Very very difficult situation to deal with blk6t, i feel for you. Its up to lady luck what happens next.

I still dont know what to do next time I encounter this, but I'll just pull over and hope for the best.

[XBROO]

Should of said he was doing a burnout.

[Dave3911]

So..... your totally aware of all the facts of the situation and what all police units in the area were doing? It'd be nice to have a police car on every street corner available, in the real world that doesn't happen. The HWP car you saw was likely tied up with something else, they routinely have to let some things go because they can only do so much at one time. I assure you, it's as frustrating for them as it is for you.

What gets me about this story is why on earth did you ring the LAC direct and not 000? If following the vehicle, why did you hang up? I'm not sure how things work in NSW, but Victoria has clear guidelines for how these types of calls are handled when dialled through to 000 - which result in you being transferred to a SGT who'll decide weather they are happy for you to follow or not and provide realtime updates to the responding units. Dialling a police station directly for a dynamic moving incident is next to pointless.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Dave3911

What gets me about this story is why on earth did you ring the LAC direct and not 000? If following the vehicle, why did you hang up? I'm not sure how things work in NSW, but Victoria has clear guidelines for how these types of calls are handled when dialled through to 000 - which result in you being transferred to a SGT who'll decide weather they are happy for you to follow or not and provide realtime updates to the responding units. Dialling a police station directly for a dynamic moving incident is next to pointless.

Then wouldn't they have told him this?

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by tweeked

Then wouldn't they have told him this?

people aren't ever asked to hangup and call 000 instead, that would hardly appear professional when you are already on the phone to the agency anyway

why you didn't call them direct on 000 I too don't understand

sadly some get away

it could have been a diabetic driving that car instead of a drink driver. I've been to incidents involving a diabetic who needs their insulin and they'll drive like a drink driver and not recall anything about it

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by aus880

it could have been a diabetic driving that car instead of a drink driver. I've been to incidents involving a diabetic who needs their insulin and they'll drive like a drink driver and not recall anything about it

In which case a cop would see something is wrong but it not being alcohol would result in paramedics being called out to manage it.

Perhaps if the police did not have so much resistance from the public regarding the cost of HWP cars there would have been an extra one on the roads to deal with the situation.

[LTDHO]

Originally Posted by aus880

people aren't ever asked to hangup and call 000 instead, that would hardly appear professional when you are already on the phone to the agency anyway

why you didn't call them direct on 000 I too don't understand

sadly some get away

it could have been a diabetic driving that car instead of a drink driver. I've been to incidents involving a diabetic who needs their insulin and they'll drive like a drink driver and not recall anything about it

Call any police station (in Vic at least) and the first thing you are told is to call 000.

Anyway, I have noticed drivers like this in the past. I never know if they are drunk or on the phone (or both). I wait for a safe chance to pass them.

[MDS69]

Originally Posted by Dave3911

So..... your totally aware of all the facts of the situation and what all police units in the area were doing? It'd be nice to have a police car on every street corner available, in the real world that doesn't happen. The HWP car you saw was likely tied up with something else, they routinely have to let some things go because they can only do so much at one time. I assure you, it's as frustrating for them as it is for you.

What gets me about this story is why on earth did you ring the LAC direct and not 000? If following the vehicle, why did you hang up? I'm not sure how things work in NSW, but Victoria has clear guidelines for how these types of calls are handled when dialled through to 000 - which result in you being transferred to a SGT who'll decide weather they are happy for you to follow or not and provide realtime updates to the responding units. Dialling a police station directly for a dynamic moving incident is next to pointless.

This OP is relating an experience to do with public safety and what he thought was the right thing to do at the time and all people want to do is criticise. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[The Monty]

So you knew why the other car was pulled up? Could it have been involved in a B&E, an accident earlier on, or maybe a driver even more UIL then the one you were following? Was he detailed to that car as part of a different operation? Or was your situation the most important thing going on in Hawkesbury that night for the police to deal with...


But I digress, it is so much more fun to turn it into a police bashing thread..

I understand that you are disappointed that you werent given priority over the rest of Hawkesbury, but seriously, think about things logically. You pull a cop off the road from another job, to pull over a driver who in your opinion is drunk, however you have no way of knowing. He may have had a medical condition, been falling asleep, or hell, even the car might have something wrong with it like a deflating tyre. But the police should drop everything to investigate a driver on a back road at 2am in the morning that may possibly be over the limit. Then IF he is over the limit, take him back to the station, ask him questions, set up the Breath Analysis machine, and have him possibly blow under.

I think I would rather them out there on real jobs.....

[XBROO]

Gees I don't know why poeple are flaming the OP, he was only doing what he thought was right. Should just be like me and not give a ****, atleast he knows not to waste his time next time.

[graham7773]

What is more fatal? A bullet to the head or a fourby head on at 100kph? The attitude "Who cares?" seems to be prevalent re drunk drivers but they are just as deadly as an idiot with a gun. And the $$$ damage they do is not inconsiderable as well. I can't understand the casual attitude of some toward drunk or drugged drivers. The op was trying to get someone to look into what was going on whether the other driver was drunk, ill or influenced by drugs he was a danger to other road users and the op tried to do something about it...Good on you blk6t

[The Monty]

Not flaming the OP and his decision to contact police, that is a great thing to do, and if we were all that vigillant, Australia would be a better place for it.
The problem is the OP is having a go at police for not dropping everything on the spot, and attending his job immediately, taking into consideration its a 10-15 minute drive in total seems a little bit of an over the top suggestion.

OP, if you come across this in the future, best to call the authorities, give them the info you can:
Where, what road, between which roads
The numberplate
Where you saw them come from, where it looks like they are going
If possible, a snappy desrciption of the driver if you get a chance to get past them, so they have some detail on who was driving
And your contact details.

That way, if they dont get it out there on the road, they can attend the registered address, and take up with the right person based on your information. Then you can be called to give a statement saying you witnessed so and so driving on this road at this time. Then they can do there job properly.

Sorry if I came across abrupt, its just the expectation people have of emergency services is overwhelming. They cant just drop everything and attend to everyone immediately, its just impossible.

[Vesper Martini]

From my own experience I can Confirm In VIC you are advised to call 000 they then let you know whether they have an available unit or not, In my case they didnt so just took the details I had.
It wont stop me from reporting an incident again. Im sure the cops are doing what they can.

[FPV_Steve]

Originally Posted by aus880

it could have been a diabetic driving that car instead of a drink driver. I've been to incidents involving a diabetic who needs their insulin and they'll drive like a drink driver and not recall anything about it

If a diabetic was driving like that then they would need sugar not insulin.

Insulin would bring their blood sugar levels (BSL) down even more which would put them in a coma and then death, if it wasn't treated in time.

[blk6t]

Thanks for the replies and I understood there would be critics of our actions that night...reason we didn't call 000, is we have in the past and were transferred to the LAC anyway to provide specifics on a separate unrelated incident sometime ago...were told to only call 000 if an emergency, but a lot of people in our area call the station a lot of the time as details are usually provided on fridge magnets along with hospital etc...

If we were meant to call 000, then Hawkesbury Police should have told us to do so if it would have assisted or helped in anyway. They did not do this, we were asked by the police for our location, our car details, the "drunk drivers" car and number plates...we provided location and all details as asked, direction of where we were heading...

Then out of concern for the safety of others followed this idiot due to fear he was going to hit either a car or someone walking the street drunk which is common in the Hawkesbury, especially the youth...we could have done nothing and gone on our merry way home...

Do you think a drunk driver who could barely keep their car on the road would stop if he or she hit someone???? I can probably safely say NO.

I guess a reason we wanted the police to meet up with this person is so we could be sure that this driver was breath tested without any excuse...even if the Police went to the registered owners address later on, there is no way to prove who even drove the car and very hard to breath test and lay charges.

In no way am I flaming the Police I understand they may have been elsewhere busy dealing with drunks on a Saturday night, we just didn't want to see a accident occur in front of us and see some justice...

Anyway next time we will just call 000 and report it....

[Charliewool]

These type of threads ALWAYS head the same way.....

[The Yeti]

A number of things with this

I can understand why you felt the need to vent, it would have been great for a car to have been available to grab him.

as said above you should have called 000 and they would have taken you from there,

another thing to consider is Hawkesbury were thin on the ground Saturday night Sunday morning with a fatal MVA up Bilpin and a number of other fun things the police have to deal with

in relation to comments about diabetic episodes, these are as dangerous as drunk drivers anyhow, and thinking back over the last 6 months or so I would say I’ve cut out more people from MVA’s casued by people having diabetic issues than drunk drivers, so it’s just as relevant and the person shouldn’t have been on the road if this was the case

[Falcon SXR8]

I tell you what if that drunk/medical cond person had a head on and killed one of my family members and I found out he was previosly reported and nothing was done I think I would be pretty upset. The op did a great thing I have been in the same situation following a drunk. You just have to hope that those "more important police jobs" were not busting some p plater for a fully sic exhaust.

[No.6]

If you had a dashcam and sent the video to the cops, you reckon he would get pinged for reckless driving considering it would be hard to prove he was drunk? Atleast he would get some form of punishment?

[gtfpv]

c'mon people you are kidding right . the OP , DID EVERYTHING RIGHT .
I'D BE PEED OFF 2 IF NO POLICE ARRIVED, AND i would go to the media if an accident happened also in this situation .
i'll bring to mind a few incidents where i have reported road problems where i thought required police .
# road rage , a truck driver chasing me and swerving me off the road . POLICE RESPONSE ::: I RECEIVE a phone cal from a police station a few days later saying they caught the driver and told him he is on warning as he'd had complaints for doing this .
# following drunk driver on M4 BACK WHEN CASH TOLL WAS IN OPERATION , the driver was hitting the concrete barracades as he drove along , when we stopped at the toll gates i told the toll operator , she said he has been watched on traffic cam and the police were on thier way . the funny thing was he paid his toll and they let him continue on his way .
# rang police station after seeing children playing chicken on M4 AT NIGHT . POLICE station RESPONSE ::::: thankyou for the call , we will immediately send a HWY patrol car to the area .
# on M4 at night , i see and drive past a car puled over on the side of the road with a woman outside holding a boy down on the road , i ring the police and the RESPONSE ###** A CHILD BEING HELD DOWN in the emergency lane on the M4 by an adult , thankyou a hwy partrol car will be there ASAP .

at no time did i stop or involve myself in any incident , nor was i asked too , as far as i'm concerned i did all i can within the law .

[Jimwarlock]

Fact is drunk or not dangerous driving is dangerous driving.
It should all have an absolute no policy on our roads.

It's a privilege to drive on public roads and people should look at it that way. AND understand that can be taken away.
No tolerance to dangerous driving at all.

I think a big part of the problem is that most people don't understand what dangerous driving actually is. The OP described it well, you feel unsafe around that driver. That IS dangerous driving.
'hooning' speeding, etc etc can be dangerous but isn't necessarily dangerous outright. Don't get me wrong, im in no favour of those things either. But let me put it this way, which scares you more...

A driver passing you on the 4-lane hwy at 120km/h with little to no traffic. maybe late a night.
or,
a driver doing 90 on the motorway veering all over his lane.

We've all had the speeding idiot, and yes we call them all sorts of things but we just let it go. It's the guy the veers all over the shop that we worry about, that we move right away from. That we keep looking for in our mirrors.

[noflac52]

I think you did all you could in this situation. As you said you followed the vehicle for a fair distance after you rang the police an case an incident occurred ready to assist if necessary. As a private citizen there is not much more you can do.

In regards to medical conditions which this driver may have been suffering from.

A lot of conditions can come form nowhere that inhibit your ability to think rationally and if it gets you while you are driving you may not be coherent enough to be able to think of what to do.

In the case of diabetics one of the first things that happens is your cognitive function decreases rapidly so that you are unable to do anything about it yourself so you drop into a coma. When you think about it if a diabetic could administer sugar at this time I'm sure they would not risk a coma and possibly death.
So when it happens to a diabetic it is not their fault and I think this should be considered when making assessments about what constitutes dangerous driving. This along with numerous other ailments that can happen when we are driving is just a fact of life there's not much we can do about it.

Its nice to know that there are people such as the op who will go out of their way when any of the above happen, including drunk driving, to do what they can.

[Stefan]

Not having a go at the OP but a cop told me once that if you need something done you need to call 000 it is then broadcast to units immediatly for action (but nothing might happen as they are busy and prioritise themselves).

If you call LAC, some guy just out of the academy will answer, have no idea what to do then write down the complaint and drop it on someone desk to action. An experienced officer will then probably notice the message 3 hours later and at that point its all over.

[AGS302]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

c'mon people you are kidding right . the OP , DID EVERYTHING RIGHT .
I'D BE PEED OFF 2 IF NO POLICE ARRIVED, AND i would go to the media if an accident happened also in this situation .
i'll bring to mind a few incidents where i have reported road problems where i thought required police .
# road rage , a truck driver chasing me and swerving me off the road . POLICE RESPONSE ::: I RECEIVE a phone cal from a police station a few days later saying they caught the driver and told him he is on warning as he'd had complaints for doing this .
# following drunk driver on M4 BACK WHEN CASH TOLL WAS IN OPERATION , the driver was hitting the concrete barracades as he drove along , when we stopped at the toll gates i told the toll operator , she said he has been watched on traffic cam and the police were on thier way . the funny thing was he paid his toll and they let him continue on his way .
# rang police station after seeing children playing chicken on M4 AT NIGHT . POLICE station RESPONSE ::::: thankyou for the call , we will immediately send a HWY patrol car to the area .
# on M4 at night , i see and drive past a car puled over on the side of the road with a woman outside holding a boy down on the road , i ring the police and the RESPONSE ###** A CHILD BEING HELD DOWN in the emergency lane on the M4 by an adult , thankyou a hwy partrol car will be there ASAP .

at no time did i stop or involve myself in any incident , nor was i asked too , as far as i'm concerned i did all i can within the law .

Whats with the capitals every few words? Do you have tourettes syndrome or something?

[2011G6E]

Phht...since when has drunk driving been treated truly seriously by the authorities?

Now if he'd spun his wheels...