Speeding crackdown underway in South Carolina, Georgia
Operation Southern Shield runs Monday through Friday
Operation Southern Shield runs Monday through Friday
Operation Southern Shield runs Monday through Friday
Operation Southern Shield, an effort to reduce speed-related deaths and collisions on the roadways, is underway in five states, including South Carolina and Georgia.
The operation kicked off Monday and is also taking place in Tennessee, Alabama and Florida.
This is the second year of the operation, which is a mobilization effort focusing on proactive enforcement of speeding, along with distracted driving, failure to buckle up and driving under the influence.
"We're in what's called the 100 deadly days of summer in South Carolina and that stretches from Memorial Day to Labor Day," said Sgt. Bob Beres, of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. "People are on the interstates, families are on interstates, kids are out of school (and) they want to get to their destination, we want them to get to their destination but do it within the speed limit."
One of the places, authorities will be focusing on during this weeklong operation is along Interstate 95, all the way down to Miami.
"It is just a time that we're going to make sure people are slowing down, " said Harris Blackwood, director of the Georgia Office of Highway Safety. "Speed continues to be a problem in all of our states, our numbers regionally are a little bit better than last year, but not enough for us to let up on our effort to hold those numbers down."
"Highway safety doesn't stop in the city limits, the county lines or the state line," Blackwood said. "Our neighbors in South Carolina and Tennessee, and Alabama and Florida are just as committed to highway safety as we are in Georgia."
And if you're thinking about going over the speed limit just a little bit, think again.
"If you go to the bank and take out $50, they're not going to give you $60," Beres said. "We have what's called an absolute speed law and whatever the sign says, that's what it needs to be."
In 2017, there were 45,156 speed-related collisions on South Carolina roadways, and nearly 38 percent of all fatal roadway collisions in South Carolina were speed-related.
During the 2017 week of enforcement (July 17-23), 16 people died on South Carolina roads, compared to 21 during a comparable week in 2016. There was also a reduction in speed-related fatalities, from nine to six, during the same period.
So far this year, 507 people have died on South Carolina roads, compared to 556 last year.
Operation Southern Shield ends Friday.