What I saw last night...

[pmfc]

I was driving southbound on one of the major thoroughfares in town. All of a sudden this car comes flying out of a parking lot and turns southbound in the northbound lanes of traffic. At first I thought he was goind to jump the divider and come my way, but he kept driving the wrong way in the fast lane of traffic.

Sure enough, the inevitable happened. He was broadsided by another driver. I turned around and stopped in a nearby parking lot. The driver of the wrong-way vehicle had already fled on foot, with another witness chasing him. He got away :mad:

I tried to call 911 on my cell phone and got constant busy signals :mad: Then I tried to call CHP and was on hold forever. I hung up when the fire department showed up.

I stuck around to give a statement to CHP. One of the officers was trying to get information from the suspect's brother, but the brother played dumb by pretending to not know English or Spanish. They finally detained him and put him in the back of the cruiser.

I wonder if the suspect was driving that way because he had just committed a crime (robbery, gas drive-off), or he was suicidal, drunk, high, or all of the above.

[chiefhuntr]

I tried to call 911 on my cell phone and got constant busy signals.

Say what? :confused:

[pmfc]

Say what? :confused:

That's right, busy signals. My calls never went through.

I'm glad there weren't any critical injuries. Imagine what the outcome could have been if there were :(

[Welpe]

That sucks on the busy signals. I had the same thing happen to me down in San Jose one time. There was a nasty accident on 101 with lanes blocked and I couldn't get through to 911 either.

[WhiteLite]

I don't know how the 911 in bigger cities works, but I would assume one of the reasons you got a busy signal was because everyone else within eyesight was dialing 911 too. Strange how many complaints for 911 busy signals lately... most centers have an extensive rollover system in place to prevent that.

[LA5150]

A few years before coming on the department I tried calling 911 on my cellphone and couldn't get through, either. I finally had to resort to calling my job, and having them transfer me to 911!:eek:

[pmfc]

A few years before coming on the department I tried calling 911 on my cellphone and couldn't get through, either. I finally had to resort to calling my job, and having them transfer me to 911!:eek:

That sucks! The joys of living in the city, I guess.

I think I need to put the emergency numbers for police, sheriff, highway patrol, and fire/EMS in my phone's memory. I might have better luck getting through to the appropriate agencies that way.

[Welpe]

That sucks! The joys of living in the city, I guess.

I think I need to put the emergency numbers for police, sheriff, highway patrol, and fire/EMS in my phone's memory. I might have better luck getting through to the appropriate agencies that way.

I put in dispatch phone numbers to various agencies I thought I might need. Including non-emergency numbers for the various CHP dispatch centers I'd most likely need.

[pmfc]

I put in dispatch phone numbers to various agencies I thought I might need. Including non-emergency numbers for the various CHP dispatch centers I'd most likely need.

Good idea I'm going to put emergency and non-emergency numbers in my phone today. I've procrastinated long enough

[ObMax1212]

I always get through but inevitably to the wrong dispatch center. It's happened enough that the first thing I say is "is this Albany PD?", otherwise I end up telling a long story before they figure out they need to transfer me.

[MrJim911]

but I would assume one of the reasons you got a busy signal was because everyone else within eyesight was dialing 911 too.

That's probably exactly what happened. Even if the calls rolled over to their backup center (assuming they have a backup center) they are getting so many calls even the backup center is overloaded. It's amazing that the 20 people gawking at the accident and on 911 can't look and see the person standing next to them is also on the phone with 911.