Local lawmen say $4 gas is what it took to slow down speeders in rural Georgia
By KIP BURKE, new editor

It took $4 gas to do it, but it looks like Georgia's drivers are finally slowing down a bit - Georgia State Patrol troopers and local law officers have begun to notice that speeders just aren't speeding like they used to.

"We have noticed a decrease in speeds on both state highways and on the interstate," said Trooper Brent Marxsen, public information officer for Post 17 in Washington. "Normally on I-20 on a Friday afternoon, we could catch one after the other doing in excess of 90, but now, we catch them doing 80 or so. But we still catch them."

On state roads, he said, troopers used to catch speeders doing 75 to 80 in a 55 mph zone, but now speeders are in the low 70s.

Wilkes County Deputy Sheriff Jamie Bridges said, "It's already become much harder to catch someone speeding over 65 on state highways, and overall, the traffic seems to be moving slower. Which is good."

Troopers and deputies agreed that people aren't just driving slower, they're driving less. "The volume of traffic is definitely down," Bridges said, "especially on the weekend."

"Our troopers have said that there has been noticeably less weekend traffic on the highways," Marxsen said. "People just aren't traveling as much."

The lack of traffic was especially noticeable at a road block set up to catch drunk drivers late Friday night, Deputy Jerry Hackney said. "It was dead. Folks just weren't out driving near like they usually are, even on Friday night."

The reduction in drivers speeding, whatever the cause, is a good thing, Marxsen said. "I've heard some in law enforcement complain that if they can't find any speeders, it will look like they're not working hard. But our mission is public safety on Georgia's highways, and we haven't reduced our standards a bit - we're just having to work a little harder, drive a little more. The speeders are still out there, and we're still catching them."

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