Give grace during busy Labor Day weekend traffic, even to selfish drivers

Labor Day weekend caps what public safety officials often deem the 100 dangerous driving days of summer.

The period, which begins on Memorial Day weekend, gained this grim moniker because of the confluence of several summertime factors: heavy travel, kids home from school (particularly young drivers with time on their hands) and partying.

Unfortunately, this three-month stretch ends with a bang and not a whimper. The Georgia Department of Public Safety, which governs the state patrol, reported a total of 15 traffic fatalities statewide during the 2025 Labor Day weekend.

At a recent news briefing, state officials repeated the same refrain that so many of us violate: for people to drive sober, slower and less distracted.

But Capt. Crystal Zion, who gracefully handles public relations for the DPS and state patrol, softened her features and added a softer edge to her voice when she paired her next reminder with the other important edicts. She asked Georgians to drive with grace.

“But I ask that you have a little patience with your fellow drivers,” Zion told the local reporters gathered in front of the department’s headquarters in southeast Atlanta. “Let them in. What does it hurt to let them merge? Let’s not cut them off. Let’s slow down a little bit.”

I have been to many of these pressers. They are important, if not for the sheer fact that people always manage to screw up on the roadways. The parade of officials carry similar cadences and everything they say is pragmatic, stern and precautionary. It is preventive rhetoric — what not to do.

And while Zion — along with fellow Capt. Josh Copelan, and Roger Hayes of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety — certainly and rightfully dispersed plenty of those rules and warnings, her reminder to practice give and take was simple and refreshing.

Think of the maddest you have been behind the wheel. Has that anger not come from being affronted by another, in your eyes, selfish driver? That is almost always the case. If either or both parties in the conflict had shown more grace, wouldn’t that end in a better result? Or at least a better feeling?

I discussed this phenomenon with 11Alive anchor Cheryl Preheim during one of our news streaming shows not long after the Sept. 1 news briefing. And, as she often does, Preheim encapsulated the idea. She said she really enjoys the feeling of letting someone in line and seeing that driver wave in appreciation.

Kindness is often free. The time given up often pales in comparison to the little bit of goodwill brought to Earth.

If we give more grace behind the wheel, everyone receives it and everyone can benefit — even the reckless, selfish ones that don’t deserve it. That is how grace works.

We can also show that same grace by practicing safe driving pillars: dialing down speeds, ignoring our phones, and making a driving plan before the drinking and partying begins (the itinerary should make sober driving mandatory).

The leeway we afford others on the road by putting ourselves second is world changing and lifesaving.