ATLANTA – For decades Atlanta has been known for its drivers and traffic.
Recently an old list about how to drive in Atlanta went viral that garnered more than 35,000 shares and countless comments.
The post pokes fun at Atlanta's roads, which seem to not have any rhyme or reason behind their names or directions of travel for that matter, the city's speeding drivers, and the seemingly endless construction.
Everyone has been having fun with these unofficial rules of the Atlanta road. Even us! We asked 11Alive viewers what their rules would be and let’s just say, they did not disappoint. Most of us agreed on a lot of the same things.
Here are some of the top viewer rules:
- As soon as a light turns green you better hit the gas pedal or the mob behind will attempt to run you down.
- One must wait until the last possible second to merge onto 400 in wall to wall traffic to be 10 cars ahead of everyone going the same place as you.
- Don’t pay attention to the speed limit. Just go 80 and you’re good. Any slower and you’ll get killed.
- Rain just means to drive faster.
- If you drive around 285 a couple times you could pick up enough wood to build a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house with a 2-car garage.
- Don’t think for one second that 5.6 miles means you’re close. With traffic that could take up to an hour or more.
- Check mirrors all the time. Folks will ride in your blind spot.
- Keep a full tank of gas at all times because you burn a 1/2 tank stuck in traffic.
- 400 is called “Hospitality Highway,” but be careful because no one is hospitable driving on that highway!
- The passing lane (far left) that says “slower traffic keep right” is treated as a suggestion.
- Be prepared play dodgeball all day long with your car.
- Blinkers are optional... everyone is a mind reader!
- Don't make eye contact with other drivers because then you might have to behave like a civilized person.
- There is no stopping at stop signs in Georgia.... it's called a Georgia Roll!!!
- The bottom line here.....how to drive in Atlanta?........DON’T!!!!
While the post has brought out the fun and honest reality of driving through metro Atlanta, deadly accidents do happen daily. This is also important to remember as Labor Day Weekend approaches. As the unofficial end of summer, more vehicles are on the road with high chances for an accident to happen.
In fact, last year during Labor Day weekend Georgia State Patrol investigated 448 crashes which resulted in 283 injuries. Four of those crashes were fatal killing four people.
In addition of the crashes, GSP wrote 8,412 citations, 11,562 warnings, and arrested 249 motorists driving under the influence.
In 2017, the Georgia Department of Transportation reported 1,549 deaths on the road. So far in 2018, there have been 932 reported, according to GDOT.
