(Media release from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety):
Slow down or expect to get a speeding ticket. That is the message from state and local law enforcement officers in five southeastern states where “Operation Southern Slow Down” starts Monday. This is the eighth year for the week-long speed awareness and enforcement campaign that runs from July 15-21 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The campaign will kick off Monday with news conferences involving highway safety leaders and law enforcement in all five states in Augusta, Columbus, Ringgold, Savannah, and Yulee, Florida. State and local law enforcement officers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee will spend the rest of the week conducting concentrated enforcement on interstates and major highways in their respective states.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 12,151 people were killed in crashes involving speeding in the United States in 2022, which is a 28 percent increase from 9,592 persons killed in crashes involving speeding in the U.S. in 2019. Speeding was a factor in 28 percent of total fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2022 compared to 26 percent in 2019.
According to NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the number of passenger vehicle occupants killed in speed-related crashes in Georgia increased by 56 percent over a five-year period from 262 in 2018 to 409 in 2022. Speed was a factor in almost 30 percent of the crashes that killed passenger vehicle occupants in Georgia in 2022 compared to 20 percent of the crashes that killed passenger vehicle occupants in the state in 2018.
According to FARS, 1,610 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in crashes involving a speeding driver in the five southeastern states in 2022, which is a 14 percent increase from 2018 when 1,410 passenger vehicle occupants died in crashes involving speeding. Speed was a factor in 24 percent of the total fatal crashes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee in 2022.
“Crash data shows speeding is a growing problem in our nation but team efforts like ‘Operation Southern Slow Down’ will help put the brakes on this dangerous behavior that threatens the safety of everyone traveling on our highways and roads,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. State troopers and local law enforcement officers enforce speed limits to save lives and drivers can help make sure they and everyone traveling on the road safely reach their destination by slowing down, buckling up and keeping their focus on the road at all times.”
“As more motorists travel during the summer, this joint effort with our partners in the Southeast will serve as a strong reminder to obey the speed limit and other traffic safety laws,” said Kenneth Boswell, Director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. “We all want to arrive at our destinations safely, and we support our law enforcement officers as they work hard to prevent injuries and deaths from automobile crashes.”
“It is a privilege and a pleasure to work alongside our law enforcement counterparts across the Southeast to address the unnecessary decision to speed excessively,” said Robert G. Woods, IV, Director of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. “Our aim is to educate the public on the dangers of speeding and correct reckless behavior before it leads to disaster. Through a collective, united effort such as this, we are able to focus our resources and drive down the number of speed-related collisions.”
“You’re almost three times more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious-injury crash when you’re speeding,” said Buddy Lewis, Director of the Tennessee Office of Highway Safety. “Speeding lowers your reaction time, increases the risk of losing control of your vehicle, and reduces the effectiveness of occupant protection equipment. Let’s work together to protect our roadways this summer. All we ask is for voluntary compliance.”
“Operation Southern Slow Down represents our collective vision towards creating a safer, fatality-free future on our roadways – one that goes beyond our engineering countermeasures and addresses the driver behaviors, like speeding, that place all road users at risk,” said Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. “FDOT is proud to partner with Florida’s law enforcement agencies, as well as our neighboring states, to remind motorists that their actions have real, life-changing consequences and that we all play a role in creating a safer driving environment for everyone.”
“Operation Southern Slow Down” began in 2017 and runs concurrent with NHTSA’s “Speeding Slows You Down” national awareness and enforcement campaign that started last week and runs through the end of the month. The NHTSA campaign is also designed to educate drivers on the dangers that speed pose to everyone traveling on our roads. Drivers will see more law enforcement on the road during both campaigns and drivers who are stopped for speeding can expect to get a ticket.
NHTSA offers the following safety reminders:
- Faster speeds require longer to stop a vehicle
- The stopping distance quadruples every time a driver doubles their speed.
- Allow more stopping time for bigger vehicles when traveling downhill on wet or uneven pavement
- Check speedometer when approaching a curve. Apply the brakes before the curve.
- Remember, children will usually drive in the manner they see adults. Set a good example by driving at the speed limit.
Traveling on the same road with speeding drivers
- Give speeding drivers plenty of space
- If speeding drivers are following too closely, allow them to pass
- Stay out of the far-left lane unless it is passing another vehicle
- Always wear a seat belt
