When do you call in a bad driver?

What's your limit or defining tolerance? Today I followed a lady to work. She was all over the white line. When the highway split to two lanes for passing she was 70mph. When it would go back to one lane she was 50-55mph. This repeated several times. I'm not gonna drag race a cell phone user. 
 

thought about calling in. ive called in a few people over the years but they were down right dangerous (elderly woman tried to drift a fwd Buick at 65mph around a 90° turn, that one got called in.)

if I called in every bad driver, I would be on the phone 24/7. I drive, in public, for a living. 

I'd go ahead and call.  These problems aren't isolated either.  They're systemic and the offenders think there's nothing wrong.  They need an intervention and I don't mind heading up that group.

Thankfully my drive is pretty short, ~8 miles one way, so I don't deal with too many bad drivers. Just the occasional derp not paying attention or slightly going right to go left (wtf?) or using their phone with the quick jerk to get back in the lane.

But under the influence, I would. Putting others at risk such as weaving in and out of traffic and/or using the shoulders to pass, I would. 

Who do you even call?  911?  Research the local police nonemergency number for wherever you happen to be?  If you manage to do the latter while driving, you may be part of the problem.

I called one in once, a company pickup with the phone number etc all over it, where the driver was clearly falling asleep at the wheel (or under the influence of something?) and drifting between lanes so much that all the other idiots on the road actually noticed and stayed well behind him as he wandered across all 3 lanes of the NJ turnpike.

You can call it in all you want, but there's no guarantee that it's ever going to get addressed.

True but I'd still try.  *HP for highway patrol, right?  Park and google local pd for in-town drivers.  Plate and car description.  If they got 2+ calls they may just dispatch.

I'll call in if I think there's a good chance the guy is drunk, but not otherwise.

The only bad driver I've called in was driving on the wrong side of the road... in a school bus. I called the county school bus dispatcher for that one.

I've definitely called people in for driving that's bad enough to be dangerous.  Swerving, clear distraction, inability to maintain consistent speed or lane position, etc.

Just call 911 and say you want to report a dangerous driver.  Give location and tag number and call it a day.

No, nothing may ever come of it.  But then again it might.

Only time I ever called (okay, it was actually my wife) we were running down the interstate and a couple drunk guys in the bed of a pickup truck were tossing beer bottles onto the road.

More than I should but at work I am responsible for complaints about our drivers. I call 911 with exceptionally dangerous driving and the numbers on trucks and buses for general stupidity.  I also call in good drivers and dispatchers seem surprised at that. 

Duke said:

I've definitely called people in for driving that's bad enough to be dangerous.  Swerving, clear distraction, inability to maintain consistent speed or lane position, etc.

Just call 911 and say you want to report a dangerous driver.  Give location and tag number and call it a day.

No, nothing may ever come of it.  But then again it might.

 

Yes, call in.

In the instance above that bad driver may again, later in the day, veer out of his lane a strike another car.  This incident may be hard to tell where fault really lies and which car was the one that came out of their lane.  However, your earlier call reporting this car will help to establish a pattern of behavior.  

I read "What do you call a bad driver" and........ well.... I don't think there are filters for some of the things I've said. 

I just chase them down until they either get scared & back off, or I can run them into the ditch. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

#### yeah!

Dash cams are pretty affordable now might be a good thing to get one, especially if you drive for a living. If anything to back you up should an errant driver do something to you. In a lot of states the police have to witness a traffic infraction themselves to be able to issue someone a ticket. 

In reply to drainoil :

When we first started putting cameras on buses the drivers were against it for all sorts of reasons. As time went on though they came to show that collisions and customer problems were not the result of our driver's actions and in many cases were completely fabricated.  When I arrive to a scene for an investigation often just pointing out that there are cameras there will change the story I'm given. 

I've called a few people in for egregiously bad driving over the years, but not many. Almost called on a guy a few weeks ago in a severely overloaded work truck with no E36 M3 probably 15-20 ladders precariously strapped to a rack who was clearly either intoxicated or falling asleep (drifting fully onto the shoulder or into the opposite lane, then jerk back abruptly), but by the time I got home I'd forgotten the plate number. 

I'll usually wait until I get where I'm going and look up the non-emergency number for the police. Probably an exercise in futility, but maybe someday it will help someone. 

I did it once. Had a guy in front of me swerving into the incoming lane as cars approached. Seemed intentional. Either way. Psycho or drunk, gonna kill someone. Call 911 as im driving. Tell the lady whats up and also that i need to be quick as he is gonna kill someone and i was about to loose signal. 

She tells me its not an emergency and you need to call blah blah blah full number. Pretty sure the signal dropped right about then as i was going off. Yeah sure, IM DRIVING, trying to not get killed, and i have time to write down a differet number and call it. So sadly i havent bothered since. 

In reply to TJL :

One of the smart things NYPD did was do away with telling people to call the precinct and have all police calls go to 911.  The dispatcher connects you to the relevant emergency service or local pct from there.

I've called in a few. Obviously drunk/inebriated/otherwise distracted, always on the interstate. Not that I wouldn't do it in town, but I haven't come across the situation for it. 

My favorite is when there's a number on the vehicle that goes to the driver like a plumber or contractor.  Sometimes it's nice to talk directly to the idiot in question to see if they know how bad a driver they are. 

I'll call a person in about every 6 months. I've even pulled up to a cop to inform them about a driver. But then I'm a DE instructor. Usually gets a response.

One snowy day a Charger was flying down the snowy interstate driving like a nut job so I called it in.
 

As I was describing the actions I came up to him and I said to ignore the call as he had spun out and was backwards smashed into the guard rail.  So I said I was now calling in an accident.  

I’ve never had any luck in the highway. I’ve followed bad and drunk drivers for miles while on the phone with the highway patrol without ever seeing an attempt to stop them. Even when calling out exactly where we were, and giving lots of warning when approaching manned patrol cars (weigh stations.) 

I did get a response once for in a bad driver in town. They were bouncing off the  curb, hard enough to flatten both passenger side tires. They kept driving on the rims while I followed them for miles through town, hitting curbs, blowing stop signs, and narrowly missing other cars. I followed them into a residential area, calling out the streets to dispatch. They were leading me on a slow speed “chase,” turning left and right at random, doubling back and going around blocks multiple times. As they approached a father and daughter riding bikes in the street, I gunned my truck and cut them off to shield the bike riders. I expected to get hit, but the car made a hard right into the immediate driveway of a home. A few seconds later, the garage door opened, the car pulled halfway in, and a middle aged woman stumbled out looking confused. The police showed up soon after. They weren’t sure if she was under the influence or suffering from a medical condition.