Driving Through The South This Week? Better Slow Down.

NASHVILLE, TN — Southern drivers would be wise to keep an eye on their speed this week, as a joint effort from law enforcement in five states aims to curb speeders and cut down on traffic accidents and deaths.

Operation Southern Shield launched Monday in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Drivers in that quintet should expect to see extra troopers on interstates as well as secondary and even back roads, officials said. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

In addition to speeders, police will be looking for impaired drivers and those not wearing seat belts.

“Drivers who exceed the posted speed limit by 10 miles an hour or more increase their chances of being in a crash because the faster speeds reduce their reaction times and ability to stop suddenly," Harris Blackwood, director of Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, told the Gainesville Times.

Blackwood told Savannah's WSAV the five-state campaign isn’t just about writing speeding tickets, but it is to “get everybody to slow down a little bit” though he added “we will write you a ticket.”

The extra patrols are funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There have been 510 traffic fatalities in Tennessee thus far in 2017, down from 526 at this point in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.

Operation Southern Shield runs through July 23.

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