Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman has noticed that drivers in his hometown are less courteous behind the wheel and are speeding and texting more than he has ever seen. Freeman says every morning as he drives to work he sees five out of every ten people at a stop light using their phones for something other than making a call: texting, Facebooking, Snapchatting. Usually not a huge issue until the light changes and they continue to be distracted while motoring down the road.
To that he said, “We knew we had to take a stance.”
So, starting soon, probably about the same time you are reading this column, he is focusing his traffic enforcement resources on reducing these dangerous practices by changing driver behavior.
He said if he can do that by writing zero tickets, it would “tickle him to death,” but admitted that is not a reality and writing warnings and traffic citations will ultimately have the desired impact.
He’s hopeful that an educational campaign, which has already started will get people thinking about the dangers inherent in driving too fast and looking at your phone instead of the road. Sheriff Freeman has partnered with AT&T to produce some public service announcements discouraging distracted driving.
Forsyth’s top lawman has even reached out to the state for assistance with his campaign, and in addition to the department’s traffic enforcement personnel, soon waves of Georgia State Troopers will supplement the effort and intensify the crackdown on practices that often contribute to injuries and deaths on the highways. This crackdown will include the assignment of 10 to fifteen deputies in unmarked cars looking for violators.
The sheriff’s attention on the issue actually started on a smaller scale weeks ago, with deputies writing dozens of “invitations” to see a traffic court judge. However, Freeman a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, said that now with the program fully underway, he would not be surprised to see “a couple of hundred traffic stops a day.”
The sheriff said he has three pet peeves, “kids not in car seats, distracted driving and passing a stopped school bus.” He made it quite clear that it is his intention to make sure that people who do those things change their ways.
“If we write one ticket or one thousand tickets makes no difference to my budget, we care about keeping people safe.”
The first-term sheriff said he never wants to have to tell another family they lost a loved one to a traffic accident. That is what drives his efforts to make a believer out of everyone in the county to be both courteous and law-abiding motorists.
About the Author
