Drunk drivers - what would you do?

[ProseccoStorm]

Twice this week when driving home in the evening we've seen what I can only assume are drunk drivers:

• reversing on a roundabout
• swerving across the road
• clipping hedges and driving into the grass verge etc
• indicating randomly, headlights on/off

Clearly under the influence of something. We've followed both home, driving at a distance behind just in case. Country roads, fairy empty.

What should we do? Call to report? Problem is that by the time we've reported the driver will be off somewhere else. And there's no proof beyond our word.

I was fuming, but unsure, what would you do?

Call 999. I did this and the handler stayed on the line while a police car got to our location. Then k left them to it.

Why would you follow them yet not call the police?

We didn't follow deliberately, just that we were both going in the same direction for a distance.

Have you got a dash cam?

Quite often, you see drivers weaving across the road, or clipping kerbs or crossing the central line. In fact anything that’s hazardous to other road users. I don’t assume they’ve all been drinking or using drugs, depending on the time of day, but I do think they’re probably using phones, looking at directions or messages, or something else that means they aren’t focusing on driving.

Take the numberplate and report. Every time.

Definitely call it in. The police can decide what priority to give it. They might come quicker if not busy. A village mum got arrested in the coop carpark for drink driving on the school run. They were there in under ten mins and we’re rural.

100% call.

When you say report and call in, do you mean call 999 there and then? Or do I report via another means?

There really must have been drunk, it wasn't an occasional wobble, they were genuinely all over the place, wrong speeds, no headlights, in the bushes, indicators on and off, and you wouldn't reverse on a roundabout because you were on your phone.

Yep, 999. There's an immediate risk to life isn't there, they're very likely to cause a collision. I'd even go out of my way to follow them until the police catch us up in that situation. (assuming the call handler tells you they're on their way!)