Alabama drivers may want to watch how fast they drive this week.
Operation Southern Slow Down is a law enforcement initiative between five states including Alabama. It started yesterday and ends Sunday.
The operation is an effort among officers and troopers to get drivers to drive the legal speed limit. This means more officers and state troopers will post along Alabama’s roadways looking for speeders.
Bill Whatley is a unit chief with the Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety Division at ADECA. Whatley said the operation is needed now more than ever.
“My brother is a trooper and he got passed by somebody on I-65 doing 99, I think, impaired and had a child in the car,” Whatley said. “I mean they’re going right by marked vehicles like they’re not even there. We have to do something to help bring the speed down. Of course, the higher the speed, the more likely the crash is going to end in a fatal or serious injury.”
The Center for Advanced Public Safety reports the number of speed crashes in Alabama decreased between 2017 and 2021, dropping from 10,035 to 9,381.Whatley said that still means many Alabamians are getting hurt on the road.
“That’s still a lot of people dying on the road,” Whatley said. “It’s kind of misleading.”The center reports the number of speed crashes involving drivers with an expired, canceled, suspended or no license increased from 1,021 to 1,245 in four years.
The number of speed crashes on state roads also increased by 14%, a figure far larger than expected.
Whatley said this operation will not only prevent speeding drivers but save lives.
“Our goal is to save lives. If we save one life by having somebody slow down, we’ve been successful. These officers will be out enforcing the laws. If we can just bring the speeding population down, it would reduce the possibility of people being seriously injured or killed.”
Operation Southern Slow Down was formerly Operation Southern Shield, which was active between 2017 and 2019. The operation was postponed during the pandemic before returning with a new name this year.
