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Road Rangers May Cut Night, Weekend Patrols

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Jun 4, 2008 12:25 pm US/Eastern

Road Rangers May Cut Night, Weekend Patrols

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― Florida's Road Rangers may soon be getting weekends off.

In an effort to deal with a scaled back budget from the state, transportation officials plan cut to night and weekend service and put the Rangers' drivers on a 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday schedule.

If approved, CBS4 news partners at the Miami Herald report the new schedule would start next month.

Last April, state legislators considered completely eliminating the program, but a flood of angry letters from drivers who had been helped by the Road Ranger program changed their minds. Instead, lawmakers decided to keep the program but cut funding by half. To make up for the lost funding, the state is seeking corporate sponsors.

Since going statewide, the Rangers have helped more than 1.8 million drivers in the last eight years. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, they came to the rescue of 82,725 motorists last year alone; averaging 227 emergency calls a day. Road rangers also assist police and fire rescue crews by removing debris from the road after an accident and assist in directing traffic.
In recent months, Road Rangers say they've seen a significant increase in the number of drivers who've run out of gas because they couldn't afford to fill up their tanks. Last month, they assisted more than 900 drivers in Broward and Palm Beach counties who had run out of gas.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)

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