Drunk Drivers

[CrAzYCrAcKeR911]

I was driving home just a couple nights ago and I came up on this car doing 40 mph in a 60 mph zone. Granted it was like 2 in the morning. This guy was swerving all over the road. I know that the Ohio State Highway Patrol has a citizen hotline for reporting motorists driving while impaired. It was clear that this guy was passed the legal limit. I decided to back off and pass the guy because he was driving way to slow on the highway and didn't want to impair his ability anymore by riding his a** or jeopardize my safety. He ended up getting off a exit several seconds later as I watched him in my rear view mirror. My question to you, as a law enforcement officer, is what would have been the proper approach to my situation? Do LE rapidly respond to these situations? In a case were the police are called to a drunk driver from a private citizen, how would you respond and what would be my next best approach to this situation?

[chris2001]

I was driving home just a couple nights ago and I came up on this car doing 40 mph in a 60 mph zone. Granted it was like 2 in the morning. This guy was swerving all over the road. I know that the Ohio State Highway Patrol has a citizen hotline for reporting motorists driving while impaired. It was clear that this guy was passed the legal limit. I decided to back off and pass the guy because he was driving way to slow on the highway and didn't want to impair his ability anymore by riding his a** or jeopardize my safety. He ended up getting off a exit several seconds later as I watched him in my rear view mirror. My question to you, as a law enforcement officer, is what would have been the proper approach to my situation? Do LE rapidly respond to these situations? In a case were the police are called to a drunk driver from a private citizen, how would you respond and what would be my next best approach to this situation?

Are you certified in the driving signs of DUI drivers? How do you know he was impaired or are you assuming?

Why was you riding it to begin with. Never a good idea to tailgate, I actually write citations for that.

Depends on what we have going on,if we are busy with 911 calls no we will not go rushing right out there. But if its 2am I am sure the officers would have been able to get there in a timely manner and that is assuming that the area goes pretty quiet with calls after a certain time.

[CrAzYCrAcKeR911]

Actually I am ADAP certified through the state of Ohio. Someone driving below the recommended speed and swerving multiple times sounds like a very good red flag as to a drunk driver. I was only tailgating for several seconds due to the fact that he was doing 40 mph in a 60 mph zone and there were car coming up to my left in the passing zone.

[realpolice]

Hi Crazy. Those are definite signs, but of course not absolute. There is certainly probable cause to stop the vehicle, which could be other things like talking on a phone, eating, reading a map, etc. As far as police reponse, as chris indicated, it's dependent on the particular department's restraints. Ours for example would typically go on a wait list and be broadcasted about 3 hours after the fact, as a general broadcast (i.e. cars, bol a bla bla bla...). Hope this answers your question.

[chris2001]

Glad your ADAP certified but you also as real stated have to understand there are a lot of things that come into play. Look at police vehicles for instances and all the things that we are doing while driving. I am sure sometimes it looks like we have had a few to many to drink while we are driving down the road. But no, we are simply trying to do a dozen things at one time and still keep the car on the road.
And as far as only tailgating for a few seconds, you knew you were approaching the vehicle very quickly. You should have known to either slow down or move over before approaching the vehicle so closely. DUI drivers can be startled, either by passing cars or by police officers. Its better to call it in to the police and stay back off of them and exit early if you can. If you have to stay on the road and can not exit early get by the driver in a safe but quick manner (and no that does not mean you can now go flying past the driver). Hope this helps.

[Mike Romeo]

I love drunk drivers.

[CrAzYCrAcKeR911]

This guy didn't look to be the type to be reading a book or if in fact could read at all if you know what I mean. Point taken regarding there are many factors that can affect people's driving. It was the totality of the circumstances which made me lean toward the driver being intoxicated. Thanks for the advice and input.

[scott715us]

My advice, call it in no matter what.

Not sure what ADAP stands for, but what you've described, if I would have seen it, then yes, I probably would have conducted a stop.

20mph under the posted limit and "swerving" are two good clues, but I may have stayed behind him a little longer to pick up a couple of more.

Like the others have advised, depending on the circumstances and the call volume, your report of an impaired driver may be on the end of the list, but you never know. There may have been a trooper a mile up the road to nail this *** clown.

Calling it in with make/model/color of vehicle and tag number is pretty much all you can do as a citizen.

[RO56]

Actually I am ADAP certified through the state of Ohio. Someone driving below the recommended speed and swerving multiple times sounds like a very good red flag as to a drunk driver.

Swerving and speed slower than 10 MPH are certainly some excellent cues that, observed during the first phase of DWI detection (vehicle in motion), give you resonable cause to investigate further (stop).

However, to claim that "It was clear that this guy was passed the legal limit." (sic) is not possible using only visual cues of a moving vehicle.

The only way I can assure you that someone is 'clearly past the legal (statutory) limit' is after seeing the results of a chemical test (blood, urine, breath), because I'm not really good at determining the BrAC or BAC of a person, just by watching them operate a motor vehicle.

Again, excellent cues to a possible OWI/OUI, but certainly not enough to ensure illegal per se (e.g., UBAL).

[chris2001]

This guy didn't look to be the type to be reading a book or if in fact could read at all if you know what I mean. Point taken regarding there are many factors that can affect people's driving. It was the totality of the circumstances which made me lean toward the driver being intoxicated. Thanks for the advice and input.

Your right it is about th totality of circumstances. But that also means more just vehicle in motion. You have to have personal contact with them, you need SFST and you also need PBT and a Intox 5000 to completely insure they are in fact over the legal limit. As the others have said those are two vary good cues on a possible DUI but that is not all that there is to it.

[CrAzYCrAcKeR911]

FYI, ADAP stands for Alcohol Detection and Prosecution. Sorry about the legal limit part of my question. It came out wrong. I didn't want you guys to think I was a human BAC detector. Just an assumption. Thanks for the advice though. Greatly appreciated.