Can you count a split second? Most folks can’t. Do you know how long it lasts? Most folks don’t.
A split second is all the time needed to take or save the life of a child in a school zone.
Fannin County Deputy Sheriff Lieutenant Darvin Couch is determined to make sure that split second falls on the side of saving a life.
Watching traffic last Thursday morning in front of Fannin County High School (FCHS), Couch said, “This is very serious to me,” as he kept one eye on the radar unit sitting on his dashboard and the other on traffic.
Within the next hour, 32 school buses and countless cars and trucks would pass by. Many students would also use the newly marked crosswalk spanning the highway.
Couch began the morning on the south end of the school zone on Old Highway 76 just before 7:20 a.m. That’s when the large flashing yellow lights come on, telling drivers the speed limit is 20 mph.
As soon as they flashed, Couch moved to the other end of the zone to make sure those lights were working, too, then parked in the middle of the highway near the East Main Street intersection. His goal, sitting in plain view, was to slow down drivers.
But even with flashing lights, speed limit signs and a sheriff’s vehicle in plain sight, some folks just didn’t pay attention.
Within five minutes, a car sped past at 36 mph, 16 mph too fast.
Couch stopped the female driver who was rushing to get to work in Blue Ridge. She knew what she had done. She was warned not to let it happen again.
Before long, three other drivers had been stopped. There could have been many more.
But Couch was working diligently last week to get the word out and make drivers slow down without having to write tickets.
“The lights make a difference, to a point,” he says, talking about the new flashing lights installed by the City of Blue Ridge. Along with them came the lower speed limit.
His hopes were that between the lights and his presence drivers would pay attention.
“I just want to be fair with people,” he said as to why he wasn’t already writing tickets.
But he knows everyone won’t listen to his warnings or pay attention to the lights, the speed limit or school crosswalk. So, he’ll soon start writing tickets.
“We’ve got some great kids. We’ve got some great parents,” Couch, who commands the School Resource Officer unit of the sheriff’s office, says.
“The safety of our students is our number one priority,” he said.
That safety includes making sure school zone speed limits are obeyed.
For those who don’t, tickets issued in the city limits of Blue Ridge, which include school zones at FCHS, Fannin Middle School and Blue Ridge Elementary School, can cost drivers up to $550 and six points against their drivers licenses.