Last weekend my wife and I took a Memorial Day Weekend trip to Destin, Florida. We left early Saturday morning and came back early Tuesday morning.
On the way down there, traveling along Interstate 85 in Alabama I spotted a sign for Starbucks. Knowing I needed a caffeine kick before I hit the back roads of ‘Bama and Florida I pulled off of the interstate near Auburn University.
I was stopped at the end of the exit when the light turned green. As I slowly started to pull into the intersection toward Starbucks, I noticed a car traveling on the street I was pulling onto. I determined that the car was traveling too fast to stop at the red light so I put on the breaks before I got into the intersection.
Sure enough, the driver blew through the red light. Had I not been paying close attention, there is no doubt my car would have been creamed.
It‘s no surprise, however, that I would see someone run a red light on Memorial Day weekend. According to recently released data, there are more red light runners on summer holiday weekends than at any other time.
Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend and Labor Day weekend are dangerous travel times, said Melissa Wandall, president of the National Coalition for Safer Roads said.
“People are trying to get to their destinations way too quickly. It puts drivers at risk for serious injuries and fatalities.”
According to the data collected by the National Coalition for Safer Roads, in 2014, there were 37,800 red light violations on Memorial Day weekend; 34,522 violations on Fourth of July weekend and 35,118 violations on Labor Day weekend.
In all of 2014 more than 3.7 million drivers ran a red light.
“We live in an arrogant society where people are thinking about themselves, they are not thinking about anyone else and that they’ll be O.K.,” Wandall said.
On a positive note, believe it or not, we here in Georgia run fewer right lights than most other states.
“By far your numbers (in Georgia) are more on the lower scale, but you still have some drivers out there that have some risky behaviors,” Wandall said.
I personally take great lengths to make sure I never run red lights, but as last weekend taught me, that alone isn’t enough to ensure safety.
Even though we may not run red lights, we may not speed, we need to look all around us that’s when we have to make sure there are no distractions,” Wandall said.
Luckily for my wife and I that’s exactly what I did and it made that Starbucks coffee taste even better.
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