The cool weather arrived this week, and before eyes blinked,
leaves began coloring and skies turned “fall” blue. The time has arrived to
think about taking those drives to places where the scenery is breath-taking
and offers a welcome relief from work, football, and world crisis.
I took such a drive the other day. At work, shuttlers were
needed to travel to Atlanta. Seven of us left and traveled down Highway 411. It
leads to Chatsworth, Georgia, and delivers cars less than fifty miles from the
big city. The morning drive began in chilly weather that soon moderated to a
comfortable enough temperature. Yep, that meant the air conditioner was turned
off and the windows were rolled down.
Now, many folks would think that the worst part of a trip
like this would be Atlanta traffic, and the truth is that I hate driving
somewhere that has too many lanes filled with vehicles all moving at break-neck
speeds. However, that’s not how I see it. The most trying section of this trek
to the big city is Highway 411.
The route is dotted with several little towns. We know many
of them by name: Maryville, Vonore, Tellico, and Madisonville. Others aren’t as
familiar: Etowah, Englewood, Ocoee, and a dozen townships that are not much
more than wide spots along the way.
The road itself is excellent. Much of it is five lanes, and
even the two lane sections are in good shape. Plenty of side roads lead back to
the Interstate for travelers who grow weary of Americana. Drivers can also find
gas, restrooms, and food along the way as well.
With all these wonderful attributes, why would anyone choose
to drive down I-75 instead? The answer is simple: SPEED TRAPS. It’s evident
that folks who live in these little towns are still furious with the government
for constructing Interstate highways. The parade of vehicles that once passed
through their towns long ago disappeared. Businesses closed with the loss of
travelers, and little towns struggled to make enough money to keep themselves
afloat.
The solution to the money flow problem, as well as the
perfect scheme to get back at drivers who abandoned them, was to slow down
every vehicle that approached and drove through these fair cities. All the
little places begin speed zones miles outside the center of town, and they send
out police officers to prey on speeders. It’s all right to want cars to slow
down as they travel through business districts and school zones, but these
places go to extremes. They begin the reduced speed areas in places where the
only things motorists might see are acres of fields with corn or soybeans,
cattle, or absolutely NOTHING. Planting city limit and reduced speed signs is
nonsensical and spiteful.
Even when folks obey the speed limit, some of these little
towns employ more devious approaches. One place slows traffic down to 45 and
then 40. Just when drivers think they are being law-abiding citizens, the limit
once again changes to 35 and even 30 MPH. Yes, it’s all designed to catch as
many drivers as possible and to make them pay for tickets. I suppose that’s the
way these places fund their towns, but “it still ain’t right!”
Driving south on Hwy. 411, the Cherokee National Forest is
to the left. The mountains tower over the valley below, and I’m sure that the
view of fall leaves is spectacular. Side trips take cars along the
The fact is that Highway 411 will continue to be a lightly
traveled route. Speed traps that impede traffic serve as “no-trespassing”
warnings to folks. No one wants to journey to a place only to return home with
a speeding ticket for driving 46 MPH down a five-lane road wider than most
similar roads in the area. Evidently, the residents along this road haven’t yet
figured out that such speed traps cause even more folks to avoid their towns
and the special things they might offer.
If I were asked, I tell the town leaders to pull in the
speed zones to reasonable area and to stop changing them several times as a way
to trick people. I’d also let them know that their policies sure don’t say,
“Y’all come back now, ya hear?”
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