Operation Southern Slow Down speed crackdown will kick off on July 18 in five Southeastern states

Drivers across the South are being encouraged to slow down as a part of Operation Southern Slow Down. The multi-state speeding crackdown starts off Monday, July 18, 2022. The weeklong campaign for speed enforcement and public education incorporates five states. These states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Drivers, who want to speed, should hit the brakes or be ready to see blue lights in their rearview reflect during “Operation Southern Slow Down.”

A joint press conference between South Carolina and Georgia law enforcement agencies will start the campaign. It is scheduled for Monday, July 18, 2022, at the I-20 Rest Area in Augusta. It will be live streamed from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety’s (SCDPS) Facebook page.

The week-long speed enforcement and education campaign previously called “Operation Southern Shield” returns in five Southeastern states from July 18 to 24. The campaign has another name, however, its main mission to save lives by putting the brakes on reckless driving and speeding in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee has not changed.

State troopers and enforcement officers will direct focused enforcement on interstates and state highways in these five states for the whole week with an end goal to stop the expansion of drivers speeding great over as far as the legal limit.

In South Carolina, an expanded South Carolina Highway Patrol presence will be on the interstates and highways from July 19 to July 22.

SCDPS said there has been a significant expansion in the number of vehicles driving over 100 mph over the most recent two years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the United States has seen a 6.6% expansion in rush hour gridlock fatalities and speed-related traffic deaths contrasted with 2019.

Activity Southern Slow Down initially started in 2017 under the name Operation Southern Shield. SCDPS said from 2017 through 2020 the states partaking in the program see a 14% drop in speed-related traffic deaths during the campaign contrasted with the prior week.

As per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the United States saw an expansion in general traffic fatalities and speed-related traffic deaths over the most recent two years. Despite the fact that there was a 22% decrease in complete traffic crashes in 2020 compared with 2019 and an 11% lessening in the number of miles traveled in the country in 2020 compared with the earlier year, the number of individuals killed in crashes in the U.S. in 2020 expanded by 6.6% compared with 2019.

Speed was a factor in 29% of all traffic fatalities in the United States in 2020, which is a 3% expansion from the earlier year. The number of individuals killed in high-speed crashes expanded by 17% in 2020, as compared with 2019.

Very nearly one out of each and every three speeding drivers engaged in a lethal accident in the United States in 2020 didn’t have a valid driver’s license at the hour of the crash, and 53% of speeding drivers who were engaged in speeding crashes that year, were not wearing seat belts.

Federal highway safety data shows the most youthful drivers out and about are associated with speed-related fatality crashes more than some other age groups. Up to 35% of male drivers and almost 18% of female drivers in the 15-to-20-year-advanced age group involved in deadly crashes in the United States in 2020 were speeding.

In the Southeast, the number of individuals killed in speed-related crashes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee expanded by 14% in 2020, compared with 2019. There were 1,611 people killed in traffic crashes that elaborate speeding in these five states in 2020 and 1,418 people killed in crashes including speeding the earlier year.

During the initial four years of “Operation Southern Slow Down,” federal data shows a 2% decrease in generally speaking rush hour traffic deaths in the five Southeastern states during the campaign week compared with the earlier week and a 14% decrease in speed-related traffic fatalities during the seven day stretch of the campaign week compared with the earlier week.

NHTSA offers the following safety reminders:

• Quicker speeds expect longer to stop a vehicle.
• The stopping distance quadruples each time a driver doubles their speed.
• Permit really stopping time for greater vehicles while traveling downhill on wet or lopsided pavement.
• Check the speedometer while approaching a curve. Apply the brakes before the curve.
• Keep in mind, that youngsters will generally drive in a similar way they see adults do. Set a genuine model by driving below as far as the speed limit.
• Traveling on the same road with speeding drivers:
• Give speeding drivers a lot of space.
• Assuming speeding drivers are following too closely, permit them to pass.
• Stay on the extreme left lane unless passing another vehicle.
• Continuously wear a seat belt.