It was a New Years Eve, or day actually since it was around 2:00 am. I'd dropped a fare out around Williamsburg and Prairie, and was heading back down town. There was about 4" of fresh snow on the ground, and there were no tire tracks in the snow ahead of me.
I was on Raymond rd. which is a boulevard, and coming toward me was a car going the wrong way on my side of the road. What I normally do when facing a car coming toward me on a one way street is crowd the left side of the street. This has always worked well, the on coming car always gets the idea right away, and corrects, you're welcome who ever you are. Well, it didn't work this time.
The on coming car climbed over the curb and wasn't going to stop or hit the trees in the median, so I gave just enough room for it to get past. As it passed, it's outside mirror ticked my outside mirror. I couldn't believe it! So, I turned around at the next gap in the median and followed. The car turned south on Prairie, and I passed it and started slowing down in front of it. What was going on was obvious, the lady driving that car was pretty drunk. I cornered her in the first cul de sac she came to, which she turned into to avoid stopping.
I got out of the cab and went over to her window. I motioned her to roll the window down. When she rolled the window down a couple of inches, I said "You're drunk. You can't drive like this. I will give you a free ride home and you can get your car tomorrow. Give me your keys and let me drive you home, otherwise I will be forced to have you arrested for drunk driving."
She said she couldn't do that. I said she had to, otherwise she'd go to jail. She said she couldn't do it. This went back and forth for about 4 rounds, so I said, "Last chance, you will go to jail, you're sure you want to do that?"
Then I went over to the cab, keyed the mike and said I needed the cops for a drunk driver who sideswiped the cab. The cops got there pretty quick. She'd left a little rub of yellow paint on the underside of the mirror housing, which was all the cops needed to charge her with fleeing the scene of an accident, in addition to drunk driving.
My actions may seem kind of harsh, but I work out there. Some day a drunk driver may kill me. I did offer her a free ride home. It wasn't free for me either. In addition to sacrificing an hour of very prime time, I have an accident noted on my driving abstract that night. I'd do it again too.
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Good! I have no sympathy for drunks, whether they're driving or riding in my backseat. I figure that unless they were kidnapped, tied up, and had the alcohol forced down their throats, its their own damn doing.
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