Former ABC college football announcer Keith Jackson might boom, “Whoa Nelly, hang on to your whistle britches, ‘The Big House’ is open for business on Saturday!”

That means roughly 110,000 football fans will be squeezing into “The Big House” to kick off the 2011 season. Most will be motoring to the festivities and that will cause some game day traffic conundrums.

Not to worry, the Ann Arbor Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies have been handling traffic around Michigan Stadium since Fielding Yost dug a hole in the ground envisioning it might someday hold 150,000 spectators.

Ann Arbor’s one-way traffic system (converting Main and Ann Arbor-Saline Road to one-way traffic southbound from Stadium Boulevard) is a national model for moving spectators quickly and efficiently from entertainment venues. It is truly amazing that a crowd the size of the entire city’s population can be safely moved out of town in an hour. It is a credit to those who designed the system and to the men and women who direct the flow of traffic out of town.

The motoring public accustomed to these fall Saturday spectacles should also be credited with the outstanding safety record in and around Michigan Stadium on game days. Let’s make sure this season is just as safe, although the added dimension of a night game will add a degree of difficulty and potential danger to the traffic equation.

For townies, remember -- whether you are a football fan or not -- you should keep a football schedule complete with kickoff times on the refrigerator or in your planner. This will help you avoid traffic around “The Big House” when you have to be somewhere on a football Saturday. It is best to run your errands around town early in the morning on game days or during the game when traffic is very light.

While in traffic, remember to be patient. There are way too many cars in the city on game day. Most of the roads in town were not designed to handle the huge influx of traffic on a game day. Attention, patience and courtesy are the most admirable and safest attributes in football traffic.

If you consider yourself a true “MICHIGAN” man or woman that means something about fair play, honor and decency. If you are flying block M’s and identifying yourself as a MICHIGAN fan take pride and set an example for others. Stay off your car horn, stay calm and give other drivers a friendly wave as you let them cut into traffic in front of you.

For the safety of the officers directing traffic -- especially at the night game against Notre Dame on Sept. 10 -- please pay close attention to your driving. It takes a measure of courage to stand in the middle of the street with only a traffic safety vest, whistle and perhaps a lighted traffic wand to control thousands of 3,000-pound vehicles zipping past both sides of your comparably frail human body.

For the officer’s sake stay off your cell phone or have someone in your car make the calls. Turn down the radio and when weather permits open your windows so you can hear traffic directions or approaching sirens.

At the conclusion of the game take a moment or two before you leave and clear off your windshield especially if have parked near a dirt driveway. The accumulated dust on your windshield causes a terrible glare when driving into the setting sun or other headlights.

The closest I came to getting hit by a car directing traffic was at State and Stimpson when an elderly gentleman was driving into afternoon sun with a large accumulation of dust on his windshield. He never saw me until I dodged him and smacked his driver’s window to get his attention -- I’m not sure who was more frightened at that point. (For those wondering -- no I did not give him a ticket because it was clearly accidental, unintentional and it scared the poor man to have almost made a rather large wild-eyed, cranky policeman a hood ornament).

Remember the signals officers will give when directing traffic. One long blast of the traffic whistle with one or both hands with palms out facing you or with one hand palm up and the other pointing at you means, “You there -- please STOP.” HINT HERE: If you are the driver the officer has chosen to stop it is nothing personal. In fact that officer believes you look like a good driver who is paying attention and he or she needs you to stop to block the cars behind you. Please cooperate at that point and avoid throwing your hands up in disgust.

If an officer tweets the whistle twice and makes a pulling motion with their hand or points a direction for you to turn it is time to GO. If the officer is frantically waving you through and tweeting the whistle numerous times in succession it means, “PAY ATTENTION AND GET GOING YOU ARE HOLDING UP TRAFFIC!”

Lastly if you see that traffic is stopped all ways it means there is a problem. Rest assured, the officers are working as fast as they can to get traffic moving—so PLEASE DO NOT HONK! Honking does no good and just adds to the chaos. In fact if you use your emergency sounding device (horn) for something other than an emergency you could be cited.

GO BLUE or GO GREEN, whatever your inclination and enjoy the football season keeping safety and courtesy in mind.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com. He also serves as the Crime Stoppers coordinator for Washtenaw County.