Going North in the South Bound Lane

I was on my way home today from running some errands  when I saw something horrifying:  an elderly man driving a car headed up the off ramp of the Interstate.  He was trying to head North on the Southbound lanes.  Cars coming off the ramp stopped and beeped and tried to caution him.  Cars headed East and West on the cross road stopped and beeped--I was one of those.  Even a school bus stopped.  There must have been 15 vehicles trying to get his attention but to no avail.  Very scary.

But for me the thing that seemed even scarier was the response that I got trying to communicate with the 911 operators. 

The local operator wouldn't send the city police (the most immediate choice) or the county sheriff (the next nearest) because the problem was with the Interstate (even though the car was on the part of the road running through town).  No, she had to transfer me to Highway Patrol, and heaven only knows how far away their cars might be.

I could not make the HP operator understand that I was NOT on the Interstate; I was on the the crossover bridge headed East.  But she kept asking me for the nearest Interstate mile marker.  How would I know?  I told her the exit number and the name of the town.   She wanted me to describe the car's make and model; I hadn't been that close and I only saw the color.   She said they would try to look into it.  

I had done the the best I could do; at least I tried.  But it was so frustrating!  I prayed for the safety of that elderly man and for those in traffic around him.  

It was when I got home that I remembered that this was the second time in the past month or so that I had had to report a traffic situation to 911, and I had gotten a lackadaisical response the previous time, too.  I realize that these folks are in a high stress profession but it shouldn't be this hard to report something hazardous.

The previous time I called was about a woman whose car was stalled at a traffic light intersection on a State highway.  It's a really busy road, and traffic was backing up for at least a quarter mile in either direction.  Again, I was on the cross road, so I went about my business at the Post Office and assumed that someone would give her a hand--this is the South, after all; there's usually some Good Old Boy who would be willing, at the very least, to push the car to the verge.  But nearly ten minutes later when I left the PO, she was still stuck at the light, so I called 911.

I explained the situation but the operator couldn't figure out which agency to call because that stop light is right on the city/county limits.  She had to dither awhile trying to decide whether to route my call to the police or the sheriff.  And she made me explain three different times which side of the stoplight the woman's car was on so she could decide who she should send out.  

Seriously, how hard is it to get help before something goes wrong?   One difficulty in communication is something that can happen to anyone.  Two times in a row seems like the beginning of a pattern of incompetence when it comes to deciding the matter of jurisdiction. 

I am really not impressed.  Not at all.  

Life is still good.

.....but sometimes I think it could be better.