CUMMING, Ga. — For those who have been driving in metro Atlanta for even a short time, it is well-known that drivers tend to take those speed limits as light suggestions.
Recently, Sheriff Ron Freeman with Forsyth County Sheriff's Office published a Facebook post ranting about the "Alpharetta Autobahn," more commonly known as GA-400.
The rant featured real tickets distributed by the sheriff for drivers super-speeding down 400.
"In the past weeks, FCSO has issued citations on GA 400 for 94, 90, 100, 111, 90, 96, 90, 90 and 103 mph," the post read.
"You have heard me say it before, I'm not big on writing tickets, but your own Mom would have told us to give you a ticket at these speeds."
11Alive spoke with some of 400's typical drivers at one Waffle House just off the highway, who agreed the roadway feels more like a speedway.
“80 [mph] seems to be the minimum,” said driver Michael Ashworth. "I feel like I’m in a speed race."
Shonna Hoover said she's glad the sheriff is cracking down, but she feels sometimes putting the metal to the pedal is necessary to survive.
“You know, I speed a little bit, too, now. I do," Hoover said with a laugh. “I drive kind of crazy, anyway. If anything, they better be afraid of me. I’m just saying. Yeah, they better be afraid of me, they better watch out for me.”
For Sheriff Freeman, it's a matter of life and death, getting drivers on 400 in the habit of driving something under 70 miles an hour.
Just how long this speeding crackdown in Forsyth County will last, of course, the Sheriff isn’t saying. He wants everyone to think deputies will be out here watching, and they are now.
