Warning: Hazardous Roads Ahead
I know that driving is dangerous, but location matters too. With that being said, driving in Georgia is more than dangerous- it’s hazardous.
This past weekend, I was having the time of my life in Atlanta. I was ripping and running through the city, heading from the Coca-Cola Factory to Centennial Olympic Park before eventually ending up traveling around the hinterlands of Georgia in the late nights- in true Homecoming fashion. All was going well until I found myself being cut off by a car speeding down Joseph E Lowery Boulevard late Saturday night.
The Dodge Charger cut in front of me, thinking he had outgained my car enough to squeeze in between myself and the car I was following. He didn’t. Instead, the car merged into both cars and totaled the car ahead of me while also partially dislodging my front bumper.
I must have forgotten where I was.
Car crashes have been an age-old epidemic for the peach state. Henry Brown Law found that Georgia totaled 1,641 fatalities related to car accidents back in 2007, before following up with 1,495 fatalities the next year. According to WSAV-TV, Georgia logged more than 1,500 fatalities due to car wrecks in 2017. They were ranked as the fourth most dangerous state for road deaths in the country behind
I have been living here for almost four years now and have owned a car for two of those four years. I have been in three accidents- and my car was not moving for two of those accidents.
My freshman year at Morehouse, I would commute from Jonesboro, GA to campus every weekday. Despite only having to travel 15 miles Southeast of Atlanta, I was guaranteed to see two, sometimes three, and occasionally even four cars abandoned on the side of the road.
It was only a thirty-minute commute each day. However, it seems that Georgia has been working to find a statewide resolution for improving the quality of driving here. In July of 2018, the state announced a new initiative, the Hands Free Georgia Law designed to keep drivers’ focus on the road. This constitutes that all drivers are prohibited from holding or driving with a phone in hand.
The results from this law have begun to show- there have only been 348 fatalities related to car accidents in 2019- but it is evident that improvements will be needed to ensure safety. This year, Georgia has accumulated 1.53 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travelled. The US rate is 1.42 death per 100 million vehicle miles travelled.
Cai Johnson is an journalist currently attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.
