Happy Halloween! Please Drive Safely

By Jim Cheatham

When most people think of October, two things come to mind: the fall season and Halloween. The drop in temperature seems to make neighborhoods come alive. Friday night high school football and playing in the leaves after spending all day raking them, for some reason, the evenings just seem more relaxed. However, this wonderful time of year comes with some very real dangers.

We have become an extremely aggressive driving society. This summer, we focused on distracted driving with the enactment of the hands-free law, but if you spend any amount of time on the road, you see speeders as well as people running red lights and cutting each other off. Traffic issues are the number one complaint Alpharetta Public Safety receives day in and day out. Our traffic unit and patrol units are very responsive, targeting the areas of complaint, but they just keep coming in. Recently, there were so many vehicle accidents at one time that we ran out of available officers on the road. Some places do not call them accidents. They call them collisions because they could have been avoided avoided if we would just slow down and be the defensive drivers that we were all taught to be.

Aggressive driving is speeding, running stop signs or lights, tailgating, failing to yield to another with the right of way, and weaving in and out of traffic/making excessive lane changes, and road rage is a whole other conversation. Do some research; this is a national problem. Some resources, like AAA, say eighty percent of us drive aggressively. The experts give a broad range of reasons why: stress, traffic, long commutes, peers, parents, video games, movies, and the feeling of anonymity. That last one indicates that we dont think we can be recognized, and we dont recognize others as people.

What can we do about it? Its going to take a concerted effort on everyones part. Take a deep breath; allow for more time; dont be rushed; visualize that every other driver and pedestrian around you is one of your loved ones; drive like everyone knows who you are.

What happened to the days of enjoying the road, the days when people would just go for a drive? The only accessory you needed was a cool pair of sunglasses. Enjoy the fall; enjoy the leaves changing; enjoy football and friends. Enjoy the drive, and drive safely. Happy Halloween!