Picture if you will: you are traveling along the Palmetto in the middle of the night and discover you've been running on empty. Before you can get to the next exit, your car sputters to a stop. What do you do? Call a friend to bring you a tank of gas? Call a tow truck? There's no need, with Metro Dade's Road Ranger program- help is probably already on the way!

Since 1997, the Road Rangers have been prowling the roadways of Miami-Dade County looking for motorists in distress.

They come armed with battery chargers, jumper cables, gas cans, jacks, tools to fix flat tires, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit and many other emergency essentials. Their service is free of charge to the motorists, since they are a program of the Florida Department of Transportation.

If they are unable to solve the problem themselves, they will move your vehicle off the road and call a local towing company for you (at your expense.) This ensures that traffic will not be interrupted because a car has broken down in the lane. They also carry cell phones and allow motorists two free local calls in case you need to contact someone. If you have broken down or see someone else on the side of the road in need of assistance, you can call *FHP on your phone to let Road Rangers know. If you don't have a phone with you, their routes are planned such that you should not have to wait more than 15-30 minutes, barring a major accident or emergency that keeps them occupied.

The team of 23 Road Rangers can be found on the Dolphin (SR 836), Palmetto (SR 826), Don Shula (SR 874), Gratigny (SR 924), Snapper Creek (SR 878), Airport (SR 112), I-95 and I-75.