Drivers rat on each other

Drivers call *55 to tell of speeders, weavers
By Elisa CrouchST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH05/29/2007

It began as a number for roadside emergencies — a flat tire, a stalled car, a highway crash.
But Missouri's Star 55 number is being used more and more by drivers to rat on each other.

"We get calls for … speeding, parents who don't have kids belted into their safety seats, someone brandishing a gun in the back seat," said Lt. John Hotz of the Missouri Highway Patrol. "We get domestic disputes. We get reports of a person weaving in and out of traffic and not signaling."

And dispatchers gets reports of drivers who've had too much to drink.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, about a quarter of the approximately 10,000 calls made to Missouri's Star 55 (*55) line each month are about a drunk driver, according a report released this spring.

The suspect driver is usually swerving and showing judgment problems, according to the report. In most cases, callers describe the vehicle and provide a license plate number. Between one-fourth to half of those calls lead to an arrest, the report says.

One irresponsible driver can provoke Star 55 calls from several motorists, Hotz said, which is why the percentage isn't higher.

In 1988, the number began as statewide toll-free hot line that drivers could use to call for help.
A year later, state officials determined that the growing prevalence of cell phones would make Star 55 worth having, since drivers were dialing 911 for roadside assistance and many rural areas still lacked 911 service.

The state spends about $10,800 a year on the line. The calls go through Highway Patrol dispatchers, who route them to the nearest patrol headquarters or law enforcement agency. On average, it takes troopers 20 minutes after a call is made to find the bad driver.

Tim Murphy of Oakville said he wished he'd known about the number earlier this spring when a luxury sports car passed him at about 90 mph onto Interstate 55. The car was weaving through four lanes of morning rush-hour traffic and didn't use turn signals, Murphy said. Other motorists were forced to swerve.

"I gasped when I saw what the car was doing," Murphy said.
That week he programmed *55 into his cell phone. "If I'd known it, I definitely would have called it," he said.

More Star 55 calls are made during summer months than any time of the year, according to the federal report. Most calls are made on weekdays.

Illinois doesn't have a Star 55 line, but offers a Star 999 line in the Chicago area. State police encourage drivers in other parts of the state to call 911 when they need to report dangerous situations from the road.

Like Star 55 calls, 911 calls are automatically routed to the nearest state police or law enforcement headquarters.

Illinois doesn't track roadside 911 calls. But Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez, spokesman for the Illinois State Police, said drivers with cell phones are helping officers get drunk and erratic drivers off the road.

"We can't be everywhere at once," he said. "Having people call has been having an effect. It gets us the information a lot quicker."