THE GEORGIA STATE PATROL ANTICIPATES OVER 2-THOUSAND WRECKS OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND AND AS MANY AS 19 TRAFFIC FATALITIES. WITH THAT IN MIND THE GSP..ALONG WITH DEPARTMENT Of PUBLIC SAFETY (DPS) UNITS AND THE CAPITOL POLICE SERVICE WILL BE OUT IN FULL FORCE..CONDUCTING ROADBLOCKS AND SATURATED PATROLS ON AND OFF INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS THROUGHOUT THE STATE. IN ADDITION, LAW ENFORCEMENT THROUGHOUT GEORGIA HAS KICKED OFF THE ANNUAL “CLICK IT OR TICKET” CAMPAIGN. THAT MEANS EVEN MORE ROADBLOCKS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE BUCKLED UP.
AND THE SUMMER “HEAT” PROGRAM IS BACK. “HEAT” STANDS FOR HIGHWAY ENFORCEMENT Of AGGRESSIVE TRAFFIC. I ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THOSE LETTERS STOOD FOR ON THOSE BLACK CROWN VICS. IT ALSO MEANS ADDITIONAL POLICE FROM ALL JURISDICTIONS WILL BE OUT CONCENTRATING ON D-U-I’S.. SPEEDING..AND SEATBELT ENFORCEMENT.
Archive for May, 2008
Tuesday evening’s storms resulted in the usual back-ups because of Atlanta’s innate fear of rain and trying to drive around the drops. But once again I have to get on my soapbox about something that just drives me crazy in bad weather. People who drive with their hazard lights flashing! STOP IT! It’s ineffective and it’s a dangerous distraction. If you’re that concerned about the road hazards that you have to hit the flashers then you become the biggest road hazard of them all. No one can try to anticipate where you’re going, a cornerstone of defensive driving. You need to pull to the side of the road or just get off the highway. Especially the interstate. I think the automakers should redesign vehicles whereby the hazard switch will only work if the vehicle is stopped. That’s the only way I can think of to stop hazardous people who rain on our commuter parade!
Atlanta has made the top ten again when it comes to a traffic-related problem. Road rage. We rank number six in the nation. I can’t recall meeting anyone here yet who hasn’t been mad enough to either commit or wanted to commit an irrational act on the road. Or is it irrational? I drive 75-100 miles a day around Atlanta. I spend 9 hours every day watching everyone else drive around Atlanta. There’s a lot of aggravation out there. Sometimes it boggles the mind to see what some of us do when we’re behind the wheel. Because when we’re not, you wouldn’t know we were the archangel Gabriel blowin’ that horn and about to exact a measure of biblical justice! We’re more New-Testament. We only wanna’ testify on Sunday, not Monday in a courtroom. I don’t have a real clear idea why it’s so bad. I tend to think it’s the poorly designed highway system. Or, traffic signals in dire need of being synchronized. And maybe that mythical code of honor thats defined the South since the beginning has something to do with it, ‘suh. Like the comedian Chris Rock opined, “I know it’s wrong, but I can understand.” Now I’m just trying to figure out, do I blame Mason or Dixon?
I read a story in the AJC that Forbes magazine ranks Atlanta’s commute as now the worst in the nation. The news should not be too surprising in light of what I told you late last year when we got word from federal transportation people that Atlanta was the “poster child” for bad traffic in the nation. Our area is so bad, according to Forbes.com, we’ve qualified to share in over a billion dollars of federal money to find ways to improve our congestion. I’m encouraged to see that many of the ideas follow my mantra, “manage what you got.”
What I’m having a hard time managing is this drive towards making drivers pay to drive the roads, we already paid for, during peak driving times. I understand why planners might like this idea. With the DoT dollar crunch it makes dollars and sense, to them, to plow the money back into the system to keep the infrastructure from crumbling. But to me it’s like being taxed twice for the same thing.
Another idea I really like is allowing single occupant vehicles to use the HoV lane. Yeah, they would pay. But that’s different. That’s a privilege on top of a privilege you’ve already paid for. Personally, I like the idea of express lanes. HoV lanes really are ineffective. Go ahead and make em’ express lanes and let people go! Then vigorously enforce traffic by making sure slower moving vehicles are kept out of the way.
One more thing. We need ALL local government jurisdictions thinking one way on this. Too many cooks spoil the broth. And we’re already stewing in our own juices now in America’s poster child for bad traffic.
