Once upon a time, in what seems like an alternate reality, I used to own a fast little burgundy Mercedes C240.
I put a lot of miles on that car driving daily between Stockbridge and downtown Atlanta, but, in that car, driving was a pure joy, even though, the C240 had a mind of its own, and, if I didn’t keep track of my speedometer, I’d look down and see that the car had decided to go much faster than I had planned.
In fact, that was the case when a Jonesboro police officer coming from the other direction on a straightaway road, whipped a U-turn and pulled behind me and pulled me over to hand me a ticket for driving 51 mph in a 35 mph zone.
That little misstep cost me about $60, but I fared a little better the only other time my flashy car caught the attention of law enforcement. I was coming back from North Carolina early one sunny Sunday morning on a stretch of I-985 that was empty … except for the state trooper who crossed the median to pull me over and ask why I was going 93 mph. For reasons known only to himself, the trooper asked if I was OK, and then told me to ease off the accelerator before letting me go without even a warning citation.
Surprisingly, that headstrong Mercedes’ penchant for speed was never an issue on hundreds of trips past Clayton County police who were, and, as far as I know, still are, extremely fond of running radar on I-75 around I-285 and at the county line near I-675. As a regular commuter through the area, I knew where to expect the radar-wielding officer to be sitting, and I also knew where to expect his colleagues charged with the task of pulling over speeders tagged by the first guy’s radar gun.
I lived down in Stockbridge for 11 years, driving tens of thousands of miles on the interstate, and I never once was pulled over by Clayton County, or the Henry County officers, who patrolled their stretch of highway just as aggressively as their neighboring agency.
It’s not any different from knowing where to slow down before encountering the Holly Springs officer that sits under the bridge on I-575 or the ramp where the Canton officer sits.
What is emerging as an issue is the news that Woodstock has asked our legislative delegation to allow them to annex the right of way on I-575 from the Cobb County line north to Rope Mill Road. In conjunction, and in order not to create an unincorporated island of interstate, Holly Springs has asked to annex right of way on the interstate south to the Woodstock limit.
Woodstock said it wants the annexation because its fire department, which responds to calls on the highway, can get back into service more quickly because city police could respond faster than the sheriff’s department or the Georgia State Patrol can. The city did, however, submit its annexation resolution without any restrictions on what it could do regarding the annexed right of way … including running radar.
Judging by the growing level of noise over the annexation request, there are, apparently, a large number of people who think they should be allowed to drive fast enough to trigger a radar gun and, consequently, earn a speeding ticket.
After speaking with Sen. Chip Rogers briefly last week about the annexations, Woodstock running radar on I-575 is probably a moot issue. He indicated that, while the delegation would not stand in the way of anything regarding the city’s public safety responses on the interstate, it also doesn’t have any interest in introducing legislation aimed at allowing Woodstock police run radar on 575.
Rogers cited a referendum question several years ago about Woodstock running radar on I-575 that he said was soundly defeated by voters.
That doesn’t really surprise me; asking voters to approve more speed enforcement is akin to asking them to allow someone to randomly jab them in the foot with a sharp object periodically.
Still, it hardly seems fair that Canton and Holly Springs are running radar but, based on a referendum vote from about 10 years ago, Woodstock isn’t allowed to do the same.
Without questioning Rogers’ motives too closely, I might suggest that those most susceptible to getting caught speeding through Woodstock on 575 might be non-county people who don’t know about radar being run and that a majority of those caught might also come from Cobb County, the other half of Rogers’ constituency.
To be honest, as someone who has slowed down over the years in just about every respect imaginable, whether Woodstock runs radar on 575 or not matters very little to me. The bottom line: If you don’t want a speeding ticket, don’t speed … so, I don’t.
I am, however, curious about another warning other county residents are raising about the requests by Woodstock and Holly Springs: spoke-annexations. Allowing a city to extend its boundaries up a roadway creates the possibility that the city can then annex a portion at the far-end of its limit and contiguously grab land through annexations backwards to fill in its city boundaries.
An outcry about this same issue arose when Ball Ground recently passed a resolution – since withdrawn – asking the delegation to annex portions of Ga. 372.
Neither Woodstock nor Holly Springs has shown any sign of using the requested annexations for future city expansion. Nonetheless, times are tight, local revenues are down, and, most importantly, things change.
For the time being, though, everyone seems to be zeroing in on radar. If our delegation deems it necessary to restrict the annexation legislation in a way that makes it pointless for Woodstock to run radar on 575, so be it.
Perhaps they should also consider restricting it so that spoke-annexations are equally unfeasible.
From now on, I will be keeping vigilant watch for either scenario … as I tootle along at a safe, unticketable speed.
