Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and other Southern states will participate in the seventh annual “Operation Southern Slow Down” that starts today.

Communications Director for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, Robert Hydrick, says the week-long campaign was started in 2017 as “Operation Southern Shield” to educate drivers about the risks of speeding and to catch drivers who are breaking the law.

“Driving at faster speeds unfortunately leads to more crashes, and the data shows it leads to more people dying in crashes,” Hydrick said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there was a 17% increase in fatal crashes caused by speeding in the southeast from 2019 to 2021.

Hydrick said since the campaign started, there has been a drop in overall traffic crashes in Georgia during the week of “Operation Southern Slow Down.”

“The goal this week is not to write tickets,” Hydrick said. “The goal is for people to understand that this campaign is going on and for people to choose on their own to drive at slower legal speeds and see how it saves lives.”