I became aware this morning, as I was driving through Fayetteville on my daily trek to work, that there is going to be another red light in front of the Barnes and Noble shopping center.

Over the last nine years of driving from Senoia to the airport area to work, it has taken progressively longer and longer times to get to work each morning. I understand that Fayetteville is growing and there is a lot more traffic on Ga. Highway 85, but there needs to be some forethought put into traffic control.

I have some suggestions for at least the morning commutes:

1. Synchronize all the traffic lights on Hwy 85.

2. Turn off the traffic lights that are not necessary (such as the one I mentioned above) for rush hour in the morning. No one will be going into or out of that shopping center before 9 in the morning, as the stores aren't even open then.

3. Do not allow parking for FCHS students at school unless they are seniors and have “A” averages in every single one of their classes. I get so nervous with 16- and 17-year-old drivers accelerating around me and then having to brake hard, usually right in front of the courthouse. Like they're going to get to school that much more quickly?

4. Bring MARTA to Fayette County. This would be a long-term solution, but it would at least provide an option for those drivers trying to get to downtown every day.

5. Limit heavy trucks and equipment usage on that road until after 9 a.m. Drivers are speeding around them so fast (including me, I'm afraid), because they don't care which lane they are in, and they travel at 40 miles per hour, clogging up the traffic behind them. Those who get behind them are so desperate to pull out and pass, they don't care how unsafe it is. They certainly won't put on a blinker, indicating their intentions because the drivers in the other lanes might not let them out. So they just pull out, sometimes barely missing the cars in the other lane.

6. Set up a hot line in Fayette and Clayton counties to call when you find a car driving in an unsafe manner. Because I travel that road at nearly the same time every day, I have come to recognize some of the cars whose drivers absolutely refuse to use turn signals. The hot line could simply be a recording where one could report the tag number of a car. Law enforcement could then decide whether to send a warning by mail, or, if it's a recurrent matter, record the number of violations reported. This could be additional evidence when one of these drivers is stopped for a violation.

We all have to get to work every day. I would just like to make it there alive and in one piece.

Cheryl C. Thompson
Senoia

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