What should you do when you see a drunk driver? For years I thought the answer to this question was to dial 911 and report it. This was verified to m a couple years ago by an Island County deputy who, in effect, said it’s better to report my observance than ignore it and let a serious accident happen. He said 911 is connected to all police agencies in Island County and my report would help them determine the cause and seriousness of the driver’s erratic behavior. Drunk drivers and drivers with serious reactions to medications are a hazard to other drivers and often cause incidents of road rage if not accidents.

I had occasion to report an erratic driver last Saturday evening, Oct. 11. It got no results!

I was northbound on SR20 about one half mile north of the Coupeville Main Street. A driver in front of me slowed down to less than 20 mph and swerved into the other lane, and then swerved back, going to the right road edge. Just when I started to pass, the driver speeded up and was swerving all over the road. I dialed 911 and handed my cell phone to my passenger who started explaining the situation. After a minute or so of conversation the line went dead. By then the driver was north of Arnold Road and my passenger tried again to report it 911 with his cell phone. He had the same frustrating result from 911. We then called a friend who called 911 for us on her landline phone. She talked to the 911 operator about what was happening and with us providing locations, car information, license number, etc., she was able to provide the information requested by 911.

Interspersed with all this, we saw, and our friend reported to 911 one incident near Boon Road where the driver drifted into the southbound lane and forced two cars off the road to avoid a head-on collision. We continued to observe and report our concerns to our friend who was relaying to 911 the continued erratic driving problems. At the Swantown Road intersection, the driver again entered the opposite lane and continued down the hill to the 7-11 gas station where she parked at a gas pump.

We followed her into 7-11 and were joined by another concerned driver who had seen the Swantown Road incident. He had also reported the problem to 911. By then, over 25 minutes had elapsed since we first tried to get help from 911.

My passenger stayed at 7-11, where he met his family, as did the other driver who had called 911. I continued on my trip. The other driver was again trying to call 911 as I left the 7-11.

I later learned from those who stayed at 7-11 that subsequent calls to 911 got the reply that the police had contacted the driver as a result of earlier calls and found nothing wrong with the driver or her driving. That response sure doesn’t jibe with what all of those of us who followed her to 7-11 saw. The police involved didn’t even bother to request statements from those at 7-11! Las thing any of us knew, the driver was freely going on her merry, dangerous way … sad!

Is this the best we get when we report an erratic driver?

Bill Strowbridge

Oak Harbor