Operation Southern Shield credited with saving lives

With traffic deaths down compared to earlier weeks in July, Operation Southern Shield has been declared a success by a state public safety agency.

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety looked at fatalities during the July 17-23 crackdown on speeders in Georgia and four other Southeastern states and compared those to two previous weeks of the same month.

Seventeen people died on Georgia roadways during Operation Southern Shield based on preliminary statistics from the Georgia Department of Transportation, the release said.

That’s a 51-percent decrease from the 35 fatalities that were reported to the transportation agency for a seven-day period a week before Operation Southern Shield and a 45-percent reduction from the 31 traffic deaths reported for July 3-9, according to the release.

Other participating states, which included Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, reported similar results, the release said.

“The deaths of 17 people on our roads is nothing to celebrate,” Roger Hayes, law enforcement services director for the highway safety office, said in the release. “The results from last week do support what we have been saying for years. Obeying the speed limit and staying focused on the road while driving saves lives.”

However, there were still plenty of motorists speeding during the enforcement effort, according to statistics from various agencies included in the release.

Georgia troopers issued 3,287 speeding citations, while 3,427 speeding warnings/citations were issued by sheriff’s deputies and police officers that comprise the highway safety office’s 16 regional traffic enforcement networks, according to preliminary statistics.

“Everywhere we traveled last week, the overall speed on the road was slower than what we usually see,” Hayes said in the release. “Law enforcement cannot be everywhere at once, and we need drivers to continue to drive at safe speeds and keep their full attention on what is happening on the road.”

Just as many people died in the U.S. from speeding-related crashes as those who died in crashes involving alcohol, shows a National Transportation Safety Board study of traffic data from 2005-2014.

Also, speeding increases the chances of motorists being severely injured or killed in a crash, the release said.

Additionally, state troopers issued 602 citations for seat belt violations and arrested 224 impaired drivers, according to the release.

Meanwhile, the traffic enforcement networks combined made 76 drunken-driving arrests and issued 364 citations for seat belt violations, the release said.

This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Operation Southern Shield credited with saving lives."