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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Loose gravel from
truck worth a 911 callQuestion: I was driving eastbound on the H-1 freeway near Kaimuki on Friday, Oct. 17, at 3:10 p.m. when a pickup truck passed me. In his truck bed were large bags of what must have been white gravel, which pelted those of us in his wake all the way past Kalani High School. On the freeway, especially, there was nothing I could do to avoid the spray of gravel. I tried to hang back but couldn't slow down enough to avoid the gravel ricocheting off the concrete at such high speed. Once the freeway ended, the driver slowed suddenly when he spotted police along Kalanianaole Highway monitoring speed. I tried to catch his attention, but he was too busy talking on his cell phone. As I feared, when I got home I found that the paint on the front and side of my new car was sprinkled with white pit marks. Should I have called 911 as this was happening? This doesn't seem like enough of an emergency to tie up the 911 line, yet there needs to be some recourse for damage caused by such thoughtless, careless and potentially dangerous drivers.
Answer: You should have called 911 as soon as it was safe to do so, advised Capt. Jose Gaytan, of the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division.
Police don't want another dangerous situation caused by drivers using their cell phones, so they caution people to report incidents like the one you describe as soon as possible, but "when it's very safe to do so," he said.
Because the gravel came off a moving vehicle and struck another moving vehicle, "this qualifies as a motor vehicle collision" under Hawaii law, Gaytan noted. The driver could have been cited also for not securing his load.
Gaytan advised you to still make a report, since you did have the license number. An officer would be sent to speak to the registered owner to get his side of the story and to make a "motor vehicle collision investigation report," since the incident you described qualifies as a collision.
The report could be used in the filing of any insurance claim, Gaytan noted.
Call 911, and an officer will be sent to talk with you, he said.
You did indicate a reluctance to call 911 for a nonemergency. In fact, many people still think 911 is reserved only for emergencies.
There is a move nationwide and by HPD to set up another dedicated line to take nonemergency calls, but for now you should call 911 any time you need police help, Gaytan said.
"Dispatch prioritizes the calls," he assures you. "They won't endanger anybody if there is a true emergency because of (your call)."
In 1997, because the 911 system nationwide was getting clogged with calls, the Federal Communications Commission set aside 311 as an alternative number that municipalities and/or police and fire departments could use for people to report nonemergencies.
HPD estimates it could cost up to $5 million just to set up a 311 system in Honolulu. Telephone customers now pay a 27-cent surcharge for 911, but that money goes to the phone company, not to HPD. The state Legislature would need to approve an additional surcharge for 311.
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