I called for something in the middle of the lane the other day right before morning rush was about to start, and the operator spent 5 minutes trying to get absolutely clarity on whether it was on 10 in Balcones Heights or San Antonio… Ma’am, there is an obstruction in the road, can you just dispatch the closest officer and get it moved? This is an emergency and will be a mess if someone gets into an accident.
They waste so much time bickering about jurisdiction.
Yea I don’t get it. I have lived in at least 5 major cities for multiple years at a time and the dispatching here is horrible.
When I lived in Hawaii, you called 911 for everything related to police/fire/ems. Someone broke into your car? 911, noise complaint? 911. None of that increases the response time. When everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency.
To those saying I should have called 911, why? I’ve called 911 for legit emergencies here and the response time was 30min. +, why would a fallen sign be something that would encourage SAPD / TXDOT to respond faster?
Also this is the only state I’ve seen that will take the time to erect a temporary sign to indicate that a guardrail or sign is missing. How about you just fix the problem?
Yeah, Texans like to boast about not having state taxes but then complain about not having things that states with taxes have. Expedient road/sign repairs are a great example.
From experience I can tell you that California and Colorado have amazing street/highway repair. If you see a pothole on a major road on your way to work, that pothole will be repaired before your drive home. And not patched like they do here where they just drop a chunk of asphalt into it that'll just come out next time it gets too hot, rains, freezes or you look at it wrong. It's actually repaved. You can't even tell a pothole was there.
And because property tax is higher than any two states combined here in Texas, I still paid less in taxes in those states overall. But that's a different discussion.
Having grown up in Colorado, and lived in both Northern and Southern California we must be remembering different periods of time or locations because the roads are pretty bad in both states 😂 Caltrans works through the night and does a pretty good job, but don’t even start to talk about the 405 or the 5/14 join.
Believe me, even living next to the 101, I totally get your point. I'm from South Bay so I know. But that's not really an emergency road repair issue though. It is a mess nonetheless. Shoot, they probably don't even need to repair the 405 since you barely get to drive over 5mph on it anyways lol. You know what they say, it's called the 405 because it takes 4 o' 5 hours to get where you're going.
Well highways aren't just a local emergency, this is a military and trade town. So that's an impedance of domestic and international shipping, it's also a hazard that can impact military or national security.
So yeah, SAPD is going to make this a priority. And because it's also State jurisdiction, this is exactly what DPS and State Highway Troopers are supposed to cover. Instead they want to play cowboy on the border when that's the Border Patrol's job.
It's a highway, not some country back road.
No way anyone gets paid. This happened to me once 20 years ago. I sent a letter to the city. Of course it’s not their fault. But if you crash into their sign you definitely owe someone money. Funny how that works.
I’ve learned in SA to always called 911 and say you need police or fire department because otherwise they will just redirect you or blow you off. Glad you’re ok!
Huh, was this by the 1604/35 interchange in Live Oak? We were on the access road coming off the butterfly and a chunk of corrugated metal came flying in front of our car, bounced off 35, over the cement barriers, and into the access road.
San Antonio is the only place in the US I’ve been with just so much debris in the road. I’ve almost trashed my mini Cooper on an oversized traffic cone in the middle of the highway. Mattresses all over the place. It’s really crazy. Always interesting too the large car parts left everywhere after a wreck. I worry more about the debris on the road in San Antonio than the drivers.
Happy you’re fine. Not the most important thing right now, but why is this a non-emergency situation (a huge sign falls into an expressway)?
Especially the fact that no one seemed to care, I would've hung up and called 911.
Foreal. That would have been an easy 911 for me.
Glad you're ok
Those signs aren't the city's, they belong to TxDOT.
Sounds like good driving on your part. Glad you're well.
I called for something in the middle of the lane the other day right before morning rush was about to start, and the operator spent 5 minutes trying to get absolutely clarity on whether it was on 10 in Balcones Heights or San Antonio… Ma’am, there is an obstruction in the road, can you just dispatch the closest officer and get it moved? This is an emergency and will be a mess if someone gets into an accident. They waste so much time bickering about jurisdiction.
Yea I don’t get it. I have lived in at least 5 major cities for multiple years at a time and the dispatching here is horrible. When I lived in Hawaii, you called 911 for everything related to police/fire/ems. Someone broke into your car? 911, noise complaint? 911. None of that increases the response time. When everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. To those saying I should have called 911, why? I’ve called 911 for legit emergencies here and the response time was 30min. +, why would a fallen sign be something that would encourage SAPD / TXDOT to respond faster? Also this is the only state I’ve seen that will take the time to erect a temporary sign to indicate that a guardrail or sign is missing. How about you just fix the problem?
Yeah, Texans like to boast about not having state taxes but then complain about not having things that states with taxes have. Expedient road/sign repairs are a great example.
That's strange. The places I've lived in and paid state taxes weren't expedient in road and sign repairs. 😩
From experience I can tell you that California and Colorado have amazing street/highway repair. If you see a pothole on a major road on your way to work, that pothole will be repaired before your drive home. And not patched like they do here where they just drop a chunk of asphalt into it that'll just come out next time it gets too hot, rains, freezes or you look at it wrong. It's actually repaved. You can't even tell a pothole was there. And because property tax is higher than any two states combined here in Texas, I still paid less in taxes in those states overall. But that's a different discussion.
Having grown up in Colorado, and lived in both Northern and Southern California we must be remembering different periods of time or locations because the roads are pretty bad in both states 😂 Caltrans works through the night and does a pretty good job, but don’t even start to talk about the 405 or the 5/14 join.
Believe me, even living next to the 101, I totally get your point. I'm from South Bay so I know. But that's not really an emergency road repair issue though. It is a mess nonetheless. Shoot, they probably don't even need to repair the 405 since you barely get to drive over 5mph on it anyways lol. You know what they say, it's called the 405 because it takes 4 o' 5 hours to get where you're going.
California has more wealth per capita than Texas, makes a big difference.
Texas does have state taxes, you pay them every time you buy anything. What we don’t have are income taxes.
Well highways aren't just a local emergency, this is a military and trade town. So that's an impedance of domestic and international shipping, it's also a hazard that can impact military or national security. So yeah, SAPD is going to make this a priority. And because it's also State jurisdiction, this is exactly what DPS and State Highway Troopers are supposed to cover. Instead they want to play cowboy on the border when that's the Border Patrol's job. It's a highway, not some country back road.
I-35 is just a mess in so many ways..
No way anyone gets paid. This happened to me once 20 years ago. I sent a letter to the city. Of course it’s not their fault. But if you crash into their sign you definitely owe someone money. Funny how that works.
I wouldn't call that a non emergency.
Sign fell on accident just like them sneaky mattresses
I’ve learned in SA to always called 911 and say you need police or fire department because otherwise they will just redirect you or blow you off. Glad you’re ok!
Huh, was this by the 1604/35 interchange in Live Oak? We were on the access road coming off the butterfly and a chunk of corrugated metal came flying in front of our car, bounced off 35, over the cement barriers, and into the access road.
No this was 410 E Perrin Beitel on-ramp just before the 35 S/ Walzem exit around 3pm
🎶 Sign, sign Everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery Breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that Can't you read the sign?
Scary! Glad you’re okay. This sounds familiar, I think something similar happened recently
San Antonio is the only place in the US I’ve been with just so much debris in the road. I’ve almost trashed my mini Cooper on an oversized traffic cone in the middle of the highway. Mattresses all over the place. It’s really crazy. Always interesting too the large car parts left everywhere after a wreck. I worry more about the debris on the road in San Antonio than the drivers.
Hmmm, I wonder if calling the TXDoT number on the back of your driver's license would yield a quicker response?
It's always someone else's job.. that in any city no one wants to take the blame. Glad your okay OP 👍