I have covered Atlanta traffic for 21 years and should rarely be surprised at the outrageous things drivers do. But the desperation and narcissism of some people was on full display recently. And there was no excuse for it.
On Tuesday, Aug. 5, a nasty wreck on I-20 EB west of Chapel Hill Road (Exit 36) in Douglasville had backed traffic up for several miles. The freeway had just reopened, when photojournalist Stephen Boissy and I decided to enter I-20 EB via Post Road (Exit 30). Our objective was to measure the time it would take us to drive through the backups and report that to our viewers in the traffic reports we do for 11Alive with Rachel Cox-Rosen each morning.
As we prepared to turn left onto the one-way entrance ramp, Boissy noticed vehicles pointed toward us and waiting for the light like law-abiding citizens. They were not.
Instead, these drivers had decided they were too important to wait in the backups and had cut across the gore and looped around to exit the freeway via the entrance ramp.
I took video on my phone from the passenger seat, posting it on my social accounts.
The drivers improperly exiting I-20 EB were moving slowly, but they were going the wrong way on a one-lane ramp. And they were not even yielding to unsuspecting oncoming drivers like us. This became especially dicey when they were waiting at the traffic light (which wasn’t even pointed in their direction) to turn back onto Post Road. They were using the intersection in a way for which it wasn’t built.
Though they were moving slowly, it made it dangerous for everyone on Post Road.
My social post went viral on both Instagram and Facebook. The majority of commenters, especially ones that were followers or friends of mine, agreed with me.
But the internet, well, internetted. Gobs of comments relayed sharp differences in thought, to sum things up politely. Some people suggested that I was an alarmist or a coward. Many others simply affirmed the act, saying they would much rather drive the wrong way than choose to sit in traffic.
I retort that planning one’s commute before they leave home (by checking reports from traffic experts like Cox-Rosen and me and by checking GPS apps) at least decreases the chances of being surprised by a backup and then acting desperately.
Driver-selfishness is worth addressing. We see people jet across three lanes to avoid missing an exit or stop in a through lane because they are missing a turn or try to skip stopped traffic by driving in emergency lanes.
People understandably get desperate when they are pinned in or when they feel they are going to miss out on something. We are wired to make selfish choices when this happens. But relatability does not make those choices excusable .
In a driving environment full of distractions, potholes, drivers of varying skills, confusing turns, tractor-trailers, speedsters, and so on, motorists do not need to introduce more bad variables.
The roads are ours, not just yours. Driving is a privilege. We have to take care of each other in the commuting environment, both inside and outside of our automobiles.
What Boissy and I saw on the Post Road ramp to I-20 EB was disappointing. But it happens all the time and needs to stop.
Doug Turnbull covers the traffic/transportation beat for WXIA-TV (11Alive). His reports appear on the 11Alive Morning News from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and on 11Alive.com. Email Doug at dturnbull@11alive.com.
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