Georgia and South Carolina will join Alabama, Florida and Tennessee for the annual "Operation Southern Slow Down" speed enforcement and education campaign July 14-20, 2025.
The campaign kicks off Monday with simultaneous news conferences across the five states and then moves to enforcement on interstate and major highways for the rest of the week. Representatives from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) and South Carolina Office of Highway Safety and Justice Programs will discuss the dangers of speeding and how crash data shows faster speeds lead to more crashes on our roads.
Troopers with the Georgia State Patrol and South Carolina Highway Patrol will discuss the role speed plays in the crashes they investigate, enforcement efforts during the week, and offer driving safety tips.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding was a factor in nearly 30 percent of the people killed in traffic crashes in the United States in 2023. While the 11,755 traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2023 that involved speeding was a three percent decrease from 2022, it was a 22 percent increase from 2019 when 9,592 people were killed in traffic crashes in the U.S. that involved speeding.
Young drivers and motorcyclists have a higher chance of being involved in speeding-related crashes. In 2023, 37% of male drivers and 18% of female drivers in the 15- to 20-year-old age group involved in fatal traffic crashes were speeding. Thirty-six percent of all motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes in 2023 were speeding. Motorcycle riders 21 to 24 years old involved in fatal crashes had the highest rate of speeding involvement at 51%.
Federal crash data showed the number of speeding-related fatality crashes in the southeast increased by 13% in 2023 when 1,604 people died in crashes that involved speeding in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee compared to 2019 when 1,418 people died in crashes that involved speeding in the five southeastern states.
