Alabama's "Take Back the Highway's" Campaign Produces Results
Alabama's "war on drivers," over the past week netted 170 people charged with a DUI, and 2,214 people charged with seat belt/child restraint infractions, just to name a few. Hazardous driving is up as well: That includes DUI, speeding, following too closely, improper lane change and seat belt/child restraint violations. Last year, 5,384 people were arrested for hazardous driving behavior. This year, that number was 11,564.
The Department of Public Safety and your elected officials sell this kind of manure to the public based upon a simple misleading idea. They tell you that this kind of enforcement will lower the number of traffic deaths. Well....is there proof in the pudding? Unfortunately no, traffic deaths were up this year compared to last years numbers. This year's "take back the highway's campaign," with it's increased numbers of DUI's, speeding tickets, and seat belt infractions did not lower the number of people killed on Alabama highways. In fact, the number of people killed on Alabama highways increased from 17 to 21, even with the increased ticketing, DUI checkpoints, arrests and police patrols.
The way I see it is simple: It's all about the money. The municipalities, and indeed the State of Alabama itself, need the revenue generated by these "crackdowns" on mostly good, honest, and hardworking Alabama citizens.
