With summer on our minds — holidays, vacations, shorts and sandals — it’s forgivable if you need to be reminded that Alabama is still in the midst of its “101 Days of Safety,” an initiative to be especially aware of as the July 4 weekend looms.

ALEA kicked off the safety program on Memorial Day and it extends until Labor Day, Sept. 5. Sparked in part by the lifting of prior years’ pandemic restrictions, law enforcement officers have rightly anticipated a marked increase in state residents and tourists flocking to our highways, waterways and airways.

“After the challenges and restrictions of COVID-19, we realize and understand that Alabamians and citizens from across the nation will be traveling to and through our state to reach their final destinations,” said ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor. True words, indeed.

But realizations and understandings will only go so far, and the threshold for those things will always be the general safety of all concerned.

As with the Memorial Day holiday, ALEA’s Highway Patrol Division will be out in full force during the upcoming long weekend, monitoring and safeguarding our roadways for what the agency anticipates will be “historic volumes of traffic on Alabama roadways.”

Factor in not only the holiday, but constructions zones — of which many, but not all, are contained during holidays and other prolific-traffic times — and high temperatures (both seasonal and on the parts of drivers) and it’s time for motorists in North Alabama to recall their driver education lessons: remain attentive around large vehicles, expect and plan for heavier than usual traffic, prepare your vehicle for the season, don’t drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and follow the law: buckle up.

There are those, of course, who will ignore such safety precautions, and as motorists, we will undoubtedly meet them on our travels. We can expect this — as much as those who chose to flaunt the rules of safety can expect to again be reminded of their transgressions not by us, but an officer.