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Are you up for being a freeway vigilante?

The car ahead of you on a busy freeway is swerving dangerously, it's driver probably drunk beyond driving capability. Would you do something about it - or just drive on?

It's the sort of thing few of us drivers are likely to encounter but a valid question nonetheless: should you play vigilante and try to protect the public - perhaps including children in other cars - by forcing the driver to stop?


Well, in this case, not one but TWO other drivers worked together to stop a drunk driver, her car being driven on Britain's M66 motorway near Manchester in central England. The story, in the London Daily Mail, came out during a drunk-driving case involving one Julie Hancock.

ACTING AGAINST DRUNK DRIVING

The court, the Mail reported in its listing of the court record, was told that Hancock, 47, was five times over the UK's alcohol limit for drivers. The situation was that she almost collided with a truck and a motorway central reservation so a following driver risked his own life and his car to overtake, brake and force Hancock to a stop.

She had been travelling at about 100km/h, the Burnley, Lancashire, court record said.

A second driver pulled up alongside to box her in and the two drivers took the car's key, the court heard. They then called the police who, the Mail reported, breath-tested Hancock and found the appalling high level.

The court record showed that, while sentencing her, District Judge Sam Gozee said: "Miss Hancock, you are a criminal. This is the second time you have committed a drink-driving offence in the past 10 years. On the last occasion, it was a high reading.

"On this occasion, it's off the scale almost. Your driving was dangerous, to say the least. It was so poor that members of the public intervened to stop you driving any further. The risk you posed on the M66, to the public, is really quite alarming."

FOUR-YEAR DRIVING BAN

The judge also suggested that the county's Chief Constable write a letter of praise to the two men who possibly prevented a terrible accident. Which, Wheels24 believes, gives some kind of legal standing to the 'vigilantes' action.

Hancock was given a 12-week prison term (suspended for a year) and 12 months' supervision. She was also banned from driving for four years and was ordered to take a retest before her licence was -re-issued.

Which brings us back to our question: Would you have acted as the first man did? Driven faster to get out of the danger zone? Called the police and tailed her? Ignored the whole situation.

Tell us by email what you would have done and vote on our Poll on the home page

Read the full story on the Daily Mail.

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