For the eighth year in a row, law enforcement officers in Georgia will be part of the "Operation Southern Slow Down" speed enforcement operation, which helps reduce the number of traffic fatalities in the state.

Georgia joins neighboring states in Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina in pulling over drivers who are breaking the law by traveling above the legal speed limit on interstates, major highways and local roads beginning Monday through Sunday, July 21.

“Crash data shows speeding is a growing problem in our nation but team efforts like ‘Operation Southern Slow Down’ will help slow 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. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 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 the administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 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. 

Also, 1,610 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in crashes involving a speeding driver in the five states that are part of the operation 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 Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee in 2022.  

“Operation Southern Slow Down” began in 2017 and also is 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.

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