Traveling holiday traditions
By Staff
The week of Thanksgiving is the busiest travel week in the nation, and certainly the busiest here in Alabama. Even with the historically high cost of gas, recent estimates by the American Automobile Association are that there will be more people traveling on the roadways for the holiday this year than last year.
However, with so many on the roads, safety concerns increase. Last year was a deadly year for holiday travel; 19 people were killed in accidents throughout the state during the Thanksgiving week. The state is doing something about accidents and fatalities.
Our state troopers are going to work overtime this week in a reprise of the successful "Take Back Our Highways" campaign. The increased trooper presence is there to make sure we do the right thing about automotive safety: obey speed limits, buckle up seat belts, and follow traffic laws.
During the August operation when the Alabama Department of Public Safety pulled out all the stops, they wrote more than 69,000 tickets and reduced rural highway deaths by more than half. The big Thanksgiving week push hopes to duplicate that record of success, and save even more lives.
At Thanksgiving, there are so many more cars and trucks on the highways, yet the roads are no bigger, just more crowded.
We all need to do our part and be especially cautious and careful while driving during the holidays. For those who refuse to slow down and show care for their fellow holiday travelers, the chances of being pulled over will rise dramatically. Let us hope that the increased presence of state troopers, along with sheriff departments and local law enforcement officers, will deter people from driving dangerously, or a least catch them before they cause harm to themselves and others.
It is important to note that even with mobilizing all state troopers to increase their presence on the highways, there will still be well under 300 officers on Alabama's roads. We have fewer troopers per state highway mile than most southern states, and one of the smallest public safety departments for a state of our size.
It is no surprise that nationally Alabama is known as "the hammer" state, not for the yellowhammer state bird, but as in "putting the hammer down," or pressing the accelerator until it hits the floor. When there are few cars patrolling the highways, deterrence to speeding is less, and people drive faster.
We have made progress in recent years. We are graduating larger trooper classes, improving communication equipment, and working to improve working conditions so troopers will stay on the force. However, as with most things, progress is slow because funds are in short supply.
Revenue flowing to the state's General Fund has been lackluster, certainly nowhere near the growth needed to increase greatly the numbers of state troopers, while continuing to fund other public safety programs like prisons and the courts.
We have the absolute lowest taxes in the nation, and that sometimes means less money for things like patrols on the highways.
So the best we can do right now is beef up the police presence on certain weeks, pass laws for mandatory seatbelts, straighten out dangerous curves and guardrail roads, require child safety seats, and pray that people will drive responsibly. Hopefully these efforts will reduce fatalities on our roads, and help us all get to our Thanksgiving dinners safe and sound.
Johnny Mack Morrow is a state representative for Franklin County.
