Decatur, GA — Decatur Police on Thursday arrested a man accused of damaging planters — and injuring himself in the process — while he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

“On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at approximately 7:18 p.m. Decatur Police responded to a single-vehicle accident at the intersection of West Howard Avenue and Drexel Avenue,” Sgt. John Bender said. “The accident investigation revealed a black Hyundai Tucson was traveling eastbound on West Howard Avenue when the driver lost control and drifted out of the travel lane. The Hyundai struck planter boxes along the roadway, causing significant damage to the planters and the vehicle. It was immediately apparent to the officers that the driver was heavily intoxicated from alcohol. The driver was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries and was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and failure to maintain lane.”

A witness saw the driver’s car fly by and heard the crash

“We commented on how fast they were going and then heard a staccato thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud,” he said.

The planters along West Howard Avenue are the city of Decatur’s traffic-calming solution and a source of complaints and jokes from residents. The 197 multicolored planters reduce the lanes from four to two on the street.

The planters were intended to be a temporary solution when they were installed in 2018. But supporters of the planters say they’ve been effective at calming traffic. The city plans to replace the planters with a permanent traffic-calming solution.

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