How Atlanta is like Mexico City
October 20, 2008 at 11:54 am by Andisheh Nouraee in Randomly NotedThanks to the efficient and helpful staff employed by the Mexican airline Aeroméxico, I had an 18 hour layover in Mexico City over the weekend.
Rather than mope, my wife and I decided to make the most of the layover by taking a taxi into the city’s trendy La Condesa neighborhood to walk around and eat dinner.
During our taxi ride and stroll, we noticed that nearly every police car we saw had its flashing lights on — regardless of whether the police car was parked, or moving.
The near-constant sight of police lights was unsettling. In our gringobrains, flashing lights on a police car means something bad is happening — a crime, accident, or garden variety emergency is taking place.
With blue and red flashing lights visible nearly everywhere in Mexico City, it felt like we were constantly at the scene of a crime.
On Sunday afternoon, we arrived in Atlanta. After claiming our bags we stood on the curb outside the south terminal. What did we see?
An Atlanta Police car, lights-a-flashin’, air-horn-a-blowin’, ordering waiting curbside drivers to move their cars.
Is the APD’s lights-n-siren routine at the airport really necessary?
Keeping cars moving outside baggage claim is not an emergency. It’s routine traffic control.
No other city I’ve visited directs traffic at its airport by making everyone feel like they’re committing a crime.
Why not just have Atlanta police walk up and down the curb and tell people they need to move?
Police officers speaking politely and directly to drivers would likely be more effective at moving traffic than flashing lights, blasting horns, then expecting drivers to intuitively understand that they’re being asked to drive away. Remember, the airport is the only place where flashing lights and sirens behind you mean you’re supposed to drive away. Everywhere else we drive, a cop car flashing lights at you is a request to pull over to the curb.
Turning off the lights and sirens would also make airport visits less unpleasant. Having an air horn blasted in your ear while you’re picking up or dropping off your family is not fun.
It would also make Atlanta seem a bit like Mexico City.
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