Georgia, South Carolina launch crackdown on speeding

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Amid an alarming increase in the number of cars speeding over 100 mph during the past two years in the Southeast, Georgia and South Carolina will put Operation Slow Down into effect Monday.

According to statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speed was a factor in 29 percent of total traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2020.

Officials say during the last five years of this operation in Georgia, state troopers have issued more than 55,000 speeding tickets.

If you’re going well above the speed limit, chances are you’re going to get pulled over.

Police are going to be on Georgia and South Carolina highways and interstates in a weeklong crackdown starting Monday to get motorists to slow down and drive safely.

Somehow, the pandemic seems to have increased risky driving.

Law enforcement agencies say they’ve seen an increase in the number of vehicles traveling at speeds above 100 mph in the past two years. It coincides with an increase in overall traffic fatalities and speed-related traffic deaths.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATISTICS: SPEED-RELATED COLLISIONS

Time frame	Fatal wrecks	Serious injury wrecks	Other wrecks	Property damage only	Total wrecks	People killed	People seriously injured	People with other injuries
May 29-Sept. 4, 2017	89	228	3,431	8,656	12,404	96	272	5,362
May 28-Sept. 3, 2018	107	232	3,216	8,155	11,710	113	272	4,898
May 27-Sept. 2, 2019	109	247	3,049	7,935	11,340	119	302	4,659
May 25-Sept. 7, 2020	130	275	2,983	7,566	10,954	153	337	4,313
May 31, Sept. 6, 2021	136	230	3,005	8,882	12,253	145	297	4,394

The statistics are baffling.

There was a 22 percent decline in U.S. crashes in 2020 from 2019 and an 11 percent decrease in the number miles traveled in 2020 compared to the previous year. Yet 6.6 percent more people were killed in crashes in 2020 than in 2019.

“We know that speed and aggressive driving continue to be challenges for law enforcement throughout the country,” said Robert G. Woods IV, director of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. “We have seen promising results with these efforts in intercepting dangerous and deadly driving behaviors, especially due to speed.”

Allen Poole, director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said: “Georgia is once again ready to work with our friends in our neighboring states to protect all road users by putting these dangerous drivers on the shoulder of the road and issuing them a ticket.”

Also participating in Southern Slow Down are agencies in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

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