Video: Truck Speeds By In Emergency Lane, Endangering Drivers

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA -- The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is searching for a dump truck that illegally used the emergency lane, endangering other drivers waiting to get onto I-20 recently.

Michele Perez captured video on her dashcam of a giant dump truck speeding by drivers just to save a few seconds while using the emergency lane on the I-20 access ramp at Thornton Road. A sign on the side of the truck says, Solid Rock Trucking Company.

"It was pretty unnerving, to think a truck this size, would utilize the shoulder doing 30-40 MPH, peppering our vehicles with dirt and debris," Perez said. "All just, so they did not have to wait like the rest of us."

Perez was waiting on the ramp to get onto I-20 at around 5:10 p.m. Wednesday after leaving work in Lithia Springs, headed home to Douglasville.

"The unlawful use or driving in the emergency lane is something that we obviously take seriously," said Sgt. Jesse Hambrick, Douglas County Sheriff's Office. "We operate emergency vehicles and this lane is used to allow us to get to people when time is of the essence."

The scary incident was all captured on Perez's dashcam, which is affixed to her windshield behind her rear view mirror.

"The ramp was being metered for the vehicles getting onto I-20 west," she said. "It appears that it was just a sundown slowdown, as I did not see anything else that would have caused the backup."

This is not the first time Perez has experienced a driver in Douglas County that was driving out of control. In fact, she had an incident in July of 2018 that made her begin documenting such incidents.

"I was coming up 166 on my way to work," she said. "There may have been three car lengths between myself and the car in front of me. There was a driver who decided it was a big enough space for them to pull out in front of me. I had to slam on brakes so hard that my rear end was fishtailing; I truly almost lost control of my car that morning. It scared me, made me mad, and made me think, I want to do something."

Well, she did do something. She started a Facebook page, in July, entitled, "DipSh*t Drivers of Douglas County."

As of Tuesday, the page already has 1,055 members.

"It kind of started out as a joke, hence the name," she said. "But the more it went on, the more I wanted it to be something more."

It's not just catching drivers, Perez pointed out, it's catching parkers too.

" The group has been successful in bringing attention to the misuse of our handicap spaces," she said. "People parking in the spaces that have no placards or tags."

If anyone has any information to share in this case, or recognizes this truck, contact deputy Cooke at 770-942-2121.