HIGHWAY SAFETY
Georgians don’t seem
to know how to drive
I hear again of expensive plans to expedite traffic in and around metro Atlanta. Has anyone considered a campaign of basic drivers education? Increased enforcement? New legislation?
I’ve lived all over America. Nowhere is traffic more frightening than in Georgia. Aggressive driving in New York City, Los Angeles and Boston is at least consistent. Here, it’s unpredictable. “Slower traffic keep right” doesn’t work. It’s unenforced or unenforceable, so expressway lanes mean nothing. The fast lane is usually the far right. People on cell phones ignore lane markers, and weave back and forth. Others make sudden turns from middle lanes. Drivers seem oblivious to traffic patterns.
Why not enforce the laws for traffic flow, and use the electronic expressway signs to post driving tips? No amount of new roads will improve the driving experience if people don’t know how to drive.
DANIEL A. HELMINIAK, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
With tragedy, it’s time
to stand up to gun lobby
When are we going to say “enough” to the gun lobby? Are we going to go on having mass killings of innocent people every week, or every month from now on? Is this the interpretation of our Constitution’s Second Amendment concerning the right to bear arms? If so, something is terribly wrong.
Every lunatic in our nation is able to buy weapons of all kinds with ease. Please: we must come to our senses, and stop this madness immediately.
ELAINE HARRIS, ATLANTA
Let’s keep firearms
in responsible hands
We now have a room of murdered children. When is “enough” enough? The lack of meaningful gun control laws is not the sole cause of repeated incidents of mass murder, but it makes such incidents more possible, and more deadly.
It is time to reject the unthinking blanket opposition to any and all attempts at gun control. We need an honest debate. The National Rifle Association, and the politicians who carry out its agenda, are doing great harm to this country.
We’re smarter than that. We can make it more difficult for guns to fall into the wrong hands without denying law-abiding citizens their right to possess guns.
KARL M. TERRELL, ATLANTA
Use ‘smart’ technology
to stop weapons theft
In order to avoid more gun violence tragedies, gun manufacturers could develop the means to implement “smart gun” technology, where only the owner of a gun could fire, via fingerprint identification. This technology would also reduce accidental discharges or the use of a gun by another person if the owner’s weapon is taken or stolen by another.
This solution would not infringe on a person’s Second Amendment rights.
BRIAN DINAPOLI, DECATUR
