The long awaited Super bowl weekend is here with us. As usual, more than a million people will flock nominated cities and regions such as the Bay Area in California to celebrate what is arguably the most spectacular sporting event in the American calendar. Hordes of people are expected to swarm the streets with all the accompanying bells and whistles of a throbbing, almost palpable celebratory mood. And this is a classic case of special city-wide celebrations that are witnessed across the world in different metropolis from time-to-time be it in the height of a religious, sporting or social event. But in as much as such festivities are usually important to a town’s/state economy, there is no denying that they also harbor potentially disastrous tragedies if unchecked. In tandem with this, here is a quick primer to how special city-wide celebrations could impact Traffic safety.

1. Unprecedented Traffic Snarl-ups 

Almost all cities today – even the most organized and efficiently run ones – are constantly plagued with traffic snarl-ups especially during the rush hour. This problem worsens in the event of widespread celebration that is a characteristic of local and international festivities. In fact, if the Falcons win this year’s Super Bowl, Atlanta car accident lawyers at Millar and Mixon, LLC, will probably get a lot of calls as the accidents will increase significantly in all the fanfare. And a good chunk of this is directly caused by the uncontrollable volume of traffic mayhem that rocks the town.

2. Poor Visibility and Disorganization

Many professional drivers and regular motorists can attest to this. It is tough to keep track of important road signs, pedestrian crossings and speed bumps in the middle of a city-wide carnival with thousands of excited revelers. If anything, some of these unruly crowds will take over major busy highways and streets and thwart any attempt for motorists to abide by regular traffic rules. Therefore, traffic lights will be ignored, deafening honking and mindless shouting will replace civilized beeping, and irate drivers will overlap lanes indiscriminately. During the recently concluded Rio de Janeiro Olympics, for instance, the city traffic superintendent had a hard time controlling the standard 3-way flow of traffic in most of the city’s busiest highways.

3. Increased Collision and Breaking of Traffic Laws

As it has been witnessed in the past, notorious road criminals will often seize advantage of an ongoing city-wide jamboree to cause harm to unsuspecting motorists who find themselves caught in the melee. For instance, theft of side mirrors and accidental collisions between motorists and pedestrians will rise several-fold in galas and city-wide protests/celebrations. And if the party gets unruly, for whatever reason, the crowd tends to direct their anger and frustrations to the motorists by smashing their windscreens or blocking leading highways.

The Bottom Line

In a world that is becoming increasingly violent, unpredictable and unruly by the day, it is only reasonable for authorities to plan in advance for the observance of traffic rules and regulation even during peaceful marching and sporting galas. A good way of doing this would be restricting the flow of foot traffic into major busy city hubs where friction between motorists and pedestrians is likely to occur.

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