Bad-driver tip line

by Bob Gillespie
It seems that drivers ratting on each other has some downsides. Basically I like the idea, in an attempt to get the crazies off the road. But as the article below says, how do we know it's not the offender who is phoning in?

Even though few arrests seem to occur with this program, I think it serves a very useful purpose, which is to serve notice to those dangerous, aggresive drivers that they are being watched.

You can help to protect yourself from the dangerous drivers with a good defensive driver education program. You may be dismayed to hear this, and it might sound shocking, but a defensive driver course will benefit almost everyone, no matter how long they've been driving.

I can attest to that personally. I had been driving for about 20 years when I took a defensive driver course and a driving instructors course. I really didn't think they could teach me anything new, but I was totally amazed at the things I learned, and I realized I wasn't such a great driver after all. For the low investment of a driver training ebook you will become a better, safer driver.


Bad-driver tip lines gain in popularityWASHINGTON, June 11 (UPI) --

Dangerous drivers on U.S. roads are being reported to the police by the thousands thanks to tip programs in 26 states.

The Governors Highway Safety Association said the programs include phone numbers, Web sites and addresses that can all be used to report the license numbers of drunken and reckless drivers.

USA Today said Monday that in Missouri 10,000 tips were phoned in per month. About one quarter of those report suspected drunken drivers.

Some experts, however, see a weakness in the fact the reports are often anonymous and don't offer much evidence.

"You want to get people who are behaving badly off the road," Martin Pietrucha of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, told USA Today. "But how do you know the person calling in or ratting somebody out is not the person who is actually responsible?"

Other traffic experts noted that the tips often don't result in an arrest but rather a letter in the mail reminding the alleged scofflaw of the dangers of poor driving habits, the newspaper said.