HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Starting this week, highway patrol, sheriff’s offices, and police departments across the state are teaming up to slow drivers down on the roadways.
This is part of the statewide “Operation Southern Slow Down” campaign. This year, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee are joining the effort in their states.
"Our highways are crammed, and we have people that drive way too aggressively,” Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. “This is yet another tool that we're trying to use as a team to get people to drive safely, slow down, buckle up and get home safely."
Here’s a look at the numbers statewide. In 2022 there were nearly 400,000 crashes, and 3,490 were fatal. So far this year, there have been nearly 200,000 crashes; 1,668 have been fatal. Sgt. Gaskins, with FHP, said a third of fatal crashes happened because of speeding. Also, just in May, a trooper pulled a driver over on I-75 southbound. According to the ticket, the driver was going 161 MPH at 9:41 a.m. The speed limit is 70.
“That’s completely unacceptable,” said Gaskins. “That’s the kind of behavior that ends up causing crashes, causing deaths. He’s looking at over a thousand dollar traffic fine.”
That kind of speeding is what law enforcement is out to stop. The Department of Transportation will also be involved.
“Just remember we have over 500 people that die on our roads every year,” said David Gwynn, District Secretary for FDOT.
“Everyone of those people has a family. They have a life,” Gwynn said. “They have people that care for them. We want to try to save as many of those people that we can. But it’s going to take a whole community to get behind this effort.”
The week long speed enforcement awareness campaign will run from July 17-22.
Gaskins said the goal isn’t to just write tickets, the goal “is to educate” and they want to make sure everyone gets home safely.
“We want you all to slow down,” Gaskins said.
