It's Okay to Drink and Drive in South Florida

Based on our experience one evening this weekend, we feel this way.

We were driving back from Port St. Lucie when we noticed a truck swerving in and out of his lane (or should I say 'lanes'). We figured maybe it was a text-messaging thing, or maybe a directions check and gave him a couple miles to see if his erratic driving would improve. Not the case.

So we called *FHP, to report a possible drunk driver. We gave the driver the benefit of the doubt for some distance however after multiple swerves in and out of lanes we felt we should call someone to possible prevent this person from running off the highway and killing themself or selves, much less another passing motorist. At this point we are north of Palm City and traffic on this stretch of 95 is pretty light. We give full vehicle description, license plate, color, make, etc. and hang up.

About 13 minutes later, still no sign of police and the driver has tractor trailers slowing down behind him because of his lane-straddling. We place another call to FHP only to be put on hold for FIVE minutes. After watching the driver in front of us drive off onto the shoulder and continue the swerving we felt it was immediate that we skip FHP and call 911 before we witness a horrific crash. Plus, we had now driven through the entire county of Martin County and were now entering the densely populated Palm Beach County.

When we spoke to 911 we were told we were being transferred to FHP again. We explained to them the broken system, but before we could finish we were speaking to a dispatcher. Finally. A human being. The dispatcher tells us they were given the wrong vehicle description and had NO record of the first call... ??? If that didn't have us speechless, this did. We were then told that the closest available patrol car was at the Congress and I-95 Exit. Have a look at the map link below. To give you an idea, there are about 8 or more cities between the erratic driver and the location where FHP tells us the next available unit is. We were SHOCKED! After expressing our disbelief as to why we were still following this possibly drunken driver, now into 3 counties, the driver exits I-95 with FHP still on the phone.

Wow.... what do you say to this. We absolutely could not believe what we had witnessed. Thank the Lord this driver kept it together long enough to make it off the interstate and not harm themselves or anyone around them. FHP... a HUGE disappointment. I guess it is okay to drive drunk in South Florida, just don't cause an accident and injure the rest of us.

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