It’s official: “Operation Souther Slow Down” kicked off on Monday, July 15th. In this multi-state operation, police officers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee will take to the highways with a single goal: slow drivers down. They plan to focus on both speeding drivers and aggressive drivers.

Operation Southern Slow Down was inspired by rising traffic fatalities. By the end of 2022, the Traffic Safety Administration reported that over 11,000 Americans died in speed-related crashes. That was 25% more than 2022. So some southern police departments decided to do something about it.

Phil Ray is the Director of South Carolina’s Office of Highway Safety. He said, “Slow down. Save yourself from a lot of heartache and save your life, do the right thing and simply slow down. Speeding is simply not worth it.”

Over in Tennesessee, Assistant Chief Deputy Derek Mills of the Shelby County Sherriff’s Office said of summer traffic, “Everyone is in the car, ‘What time are we getting there? When are we getting there?’–everybody is in a hurry to get where they are going. We want you to slow down and get there safely.”

Mills believes the multi-state effort is working: “Halfway through the year, we are down 38 percent on traffic fatalities and that’s due to the hard work of the men and women of the sheriff’s office going out and enforcing speeding and distracted driving.”