Griffin Speaks
WHERE DID HE GET HIS DRIVERS LICENSE?
When I was a little boy I can remember riding in “Humpty Dumpty”, our 1948 black Plymouth with my father. Someone would pass by us at a high rate of speed and my father would ask: “Where did he get his license from, Sears and Roebuck?
Today, forty years later I am riding in my car with my children asking the same question. Instead of saying Sears and Roebuck I say “Walmart” or “Kmart’s blue light special.” Have you noticed how bad people drive in Alabama in general and Montgomery in particular?
Alabama has one of the highest motor vehicle death rates in the nation. This is true because we have some of the worst drivers in the world along with traffic laws that are not adequately enforced. In my home state of North Carolina a yellow light meant caution, slow down and prepare to stop for the red light. In Alabama the yellow light is interpreted as a symbol that you must speed up.
The next time you are sitting at a traffic light count how many vehicles run the red light. You are very wise to wait before taking off when the light turns green, because a car is sure to run the red light. Some of the worst intersections in Montgomery are: Norman Bridge Road and Edgemont (Sahara Restaurant), Fairview and South Perry Street, Vaughn Road and the Eastern Blvd. The entire Atlanta Highway is bad and Cloverdale Road is the Montgomery drag strip.
Why do people drive so badly in this city and state? I believe that the traffic laws are not adequately enforced. You don’t see much ticket writing anymore. Perhaps that is considered demeaning work for today’s law enforcement officers.
I frequently tell my kids that there should be a reality show created demonstrating how drivers in Alabama get away with breaking traffic laws. Perhaps if law enforcement officers would stop speeding and running traffic lights themselves, they could write a few more tickets. I was sitting in Church’s Chicken on the corner of Fairview and Goode Street when I overheard the conversation of two customers discussing being stopped while driving drunk. “Man that cop was drunker than me.” “ I went to court and the Judge was drunk.” “He sent me to jail and the Jailer was drunk.” “What is the world coming to?” This customer received a lot of laughs, but it made me think. Something is going on that we don’t know about. Why are traffic laws not being adequately enforced in this city and state?
On Interstate 65 if you drive the speed limit someone will run into the back of you. You can forget trying to drive the posted 55 miles per hour in a work zone between Montgomery and Prattville. You take your life into your own hands when you walk or drive on Cloverdale Road. A close friend of mine saw a driver pass another driver on this residential street traveling 50 miles an hour.
Someone needs to warn our Korean friends about the driving patterns in this city and state. It would be a shame and disgrace for us to lose future businesses like the Hyundai Plant, because our roads are so deadly. Until our city and state officials address this crisis we need to take the following precautions while driving: 1.) Wait four seconds after the light turns green before entering the intersection; 2.) Keep your eyes on the road at all times, 3.) Never drive over five miles above the speed limit; 4.) Stop and rest every 100 miles; 5.) Avoid whenever possible, Cloverdale Road, the Atlanta Highway, the intersection of Norman Bridge Road and Edgemont, the intersection of South Perry Street and Fairview; and Vaughn Road and Eastern Blvd. Always remember that highway 231 and Interstate 65 are two of the deadliest roadways in the world.
So the next time you get in your car, buckle up for safety, slow down and watch out for the other guy. The life you save may very well be your own.
Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by logging on to his web page at www.greggriffin.com
