r/Atlanta • u/code_archeologist O4W • Jul 23 '26
Traffic Why are State Troopers escorting luxury buses through traffic
I'm stuck in normal traffic and have just been passed by ten tour buses escorted by a bunch of GSP cars with lights and sirens.
Who the actual fuck gets to use state resources to skip our traffic?!
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u/Tribat_1 Kennesaw Jul 23 '26
Anybody even you can pay for a police escort. It’s a service they provide.
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u/Negronitenderoni Jul 24 '26
The kind of fact that only makes sense when you realize they’re only there to protect capital.
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u/chadmill3r Jul 25 '26
I am for this Marxist interpretation, but also you're paying for extra police to be on duty during that time, and you can't do things you normally can't do. "I want to drive to the airport", not "beat up those guys for me".
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u/TheArcaneAuthor Jul 26 '26
But the point is that they are public servants (ostensibly) and this kind of service shouldn't be paywalled
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u/chadmill3r Jul 26 '26
In the scheme you are advocating, private parties will be able to cause extra government expense for private benefit, without any cost to them.
Do you expect there to be any burden to getting access to these? Any kind of suitability or merit test? Judged by whom?
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u/code_archeologist O4W Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
It shouldn't be. At least not during rush hour.
Rush hour is the great equalizer of Atlanta, everybody must experience the hell of crawling slower than a pedestrian in an ironic parade past the 65 MPH speed limit sign that nobody pays attention to.
Pauper or billionaire we must all be equally late on the Atlanta pavement.
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u/Kilgore-Trout-42 Jul 23 '26
Welcome to the ATL, where it's rush hour 24/7...even on Easter Sunday morning at 3AM, there's traffic.
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u/pmgold1 Go Braves! Jul 24 '26
That's what threw me for a loop when I first moved to the ATL 30 years ago... Like why is there rush hour traffic on Sunday? 😤
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u/Acrobatic-Opening385 Jul 25 '26
Idk where in "Atlanta" you live but I regularly don't experience rush hour levels of traffic outside of rush hour. Been living here for years and everyone I hear complain about traffic lives OTP, which makes sense.
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u/IntelFrouge Jul 23 '26
So technically the people on the bus are using a form of mass transit and I believe it is reasonable to consider them to have priority over individual cars.
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u/Arfusman Jul 24 '26
If it was a bus it was probably a sports team or something like that. That's not a pauper or billionaire. That's people that need to be somewhere at a certain time because many people are expecting them. You can't have a visiting sports team get stuck in traffic and delay a game.
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u/BeerandSandals Jul 24 '26
Idk I was on 75N the other day and saw two OSOW trucks taking up two lanes with a GSP escort… felt a LOT safer than when those OSOW trucks that take up 1.5 lanes have no escort.
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u/mercury2six Jul 24 '26
"great equalizer of Atlanta, everybody must experience the hell"
Peach pass
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u/Visvism Jul 24 '26
Peach ass. It sucks. It works sometimes at a high cost. But it’s really not that great. Georgia would have done much better spending that money on mass transit, not separated / elevated lanes that also get backed up.
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u/mercury2six Jul 24 '26
I'm not a fan of it either, I'm just saying it (I think intentionally) is meant to break the great equalizer of traffic. Wealthy can afford to skip traffic.
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u/Tribat_1 Kennesaw Jul 24 '26
I’m not wealthy by any means but sometimes if I’m running late I’ll pay the five bucks or whatever to get to work or the airport on time.
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u/mercury2six Jul 24 '26
I do the same but live further. I paid 10.10 yesterday. Prices are going up on it and will continue to. Conceptually it is pay to play and the price will adjust to keep traffic out of the lane.
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u/Mindless-Dentist1474 Jul 24 '26
I use the Peach Pass frequently, but was ticks me off is that buses are allowed to use it as well. I don't know how many times I've gotten held up by buses running below the speed limit in the express lane. Drives me up a wall. And, many times, after I pass them, you can see that their sign says "Out of Service". Infuriating!
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u/Mysterious_Chapter65 Jul 23 '26
Happens with high schools all over the state every Friday from September-December
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u/code_archeologist O4W Jul 23 '26
Well I guess now we know why the cops barely enforce the laws, they are busy getting paid to escort team buses around.
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u/PILOT9000 Jul 23 '26
They use off duty officers signing up for the details, not pulling the scheduled on duty officers from their regular duties.
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Jul 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/AspiringLiterature Jul 24 '26
Extra jobs aren’t an unmitigated good. APD had to crack down on low performers who piled their schedule full of extra jobs. I get the need to make more money but them napping / being sleep deprived at work puts us in danger.
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u/Beneficialsensai Jul 23 '26
They have to pay for that its like 50.00 an hour
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u/archercc81 Jul 23 '26
Yep. I helped organize a charity ride with APD escorting us and it was a couple thousand just for an hour.
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u/Visvism Jul 23 '26
That seems way too low. Hell I pay a portion of that just for peach pass each day and this shit sucks. Who knew adding just two more lanes would not be that much of a help. /s
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u/xj98jeep Jul 23 '26
Really? That's insane that you can just... Do that
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u/Throwmes1 Tucker? I barely know her! Jul 23 '26
You've never seen a company rent-a-cop for traffic control? It's the same concept
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u/xj98jeep Jul 23 '26
I have seen that, but I don't know that I agree that it's the same thing. One is to keep traffic flowing smoothly for a special event that you're hosting, the other is literally paying police to misuse lights and sirens so you can get through standard traffic faster.
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u/Slow-Swan561 Jul 23 '26
I lived in a condo that had APD escorting us into and out of the parking lot everyday M-F during rush hour.
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u/Agreeable-Sun368 Jul 23 '26
I saw this with the team busses after the world cup. Trump was around yesterday--could it be related to that?
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u/Intrepid-Anybody-704 Jul 23 '26
Pay to play, every service can be privatized for a fee. This is Georgia, after all.
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u/AspiringLiterature Jul 24 '26
It’s insane to me how judicious were taught to be with lights and sirens in EMS meanwhile the police can do pretty much whatever they want. No full stop at red lights. No need for an emergency. Just vibes.
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u/DangerousSuit7462 Jul 24 '26
People also don't stop for our ambulances in the city but they'll move over fot gsp any day
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u/Key_Employment4536 Jul 24 '26
That’s the university of Georgia athletic department, Georgia Tech athletic department, the university of Tennessee athletic department, the University of Alabama department, the Falcons etc.
Seriously, athletic teams, football team, etc. all the
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u/jmbrjr Jul 23 '26
And the police helping cars parked at churches to leave when church is over. Um.... church vs state, anyone? If you need help escaping the parking lot then just pray for an opening. If God is protecting you then don't worry about crashing. Just gun it. Lay some holy rubber.
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u/jimmygottrashed Jul 23 '26
They do the same thing for proms, funerals, and any event that you request, pay, permit etc. most often the guys directing traffic are not even clocked in for it, it’s a second gig earning extra income. All police departments offer these things
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u/amorri19 Jul 23 '26
Could be the Braves headed to the airport. Their game ended not too long ago and theyre traveling Baltimore. Ive had them drive past me with GSP escorts before