Road Rangers To The Rescue

MIAMI (CBS4) – We see it all the time. A car broken down on the side of the road or a vehicle rear-ended by a distracted driver.

When a driver runs into trouble on some of South Florida's highways, the first people to arrive are not police or fire rescue, but the road rangers.

There are over a dozen who roam I-95 looking for drivers in need of assistance. It's part of a free service funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.

In order to make sure the road rangers find all of the drivers that need help, they rely on the men and women at the transportation management center in Doral. They watch more than 200 cameras over all of South Florida.

There are about eight road rangers for every shift. They each respond to about 5 to 10 cases a day. Most of those cases are stranded divers with flat tires or broken down cars.

Drivers who find themselves in a bind should first pull over to the side of the road as best as possible. They should also remain in their vehicle with their seatbelt on and call *3-4-7 or F-H-P. That's the Florida Highway Patrol dispatch number who will dispatch a road ranger to the vehicle's location.