“Operation Southern Slowdown” Begins in Tennessee and Other Southern States

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Tennessee officials are joining with several states to increase speed limit enforcement across the Southeast.

Operation Southern Slow Down, a multi-state mobilization to crack down on speeding, began on Monday, July 15 and will run through July 19. Participating in the operation are the Tennessee Office of Traffic Safety, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Knoxville Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the White Pine Police Department. Law enforcement agencies from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are also participating.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the number of speed-related fatal crashes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee increased 14 percent from 2018 to 2022. The traffic safety campaign aims to “increase speed enforcement on major roadways and high-risk locations during a travel period when the fatal crash rate is highest across the Southeast,” according to a release from the Tennessee Office of Traffic Safety.

“It’s all about getting people to slow down and the goal is to try to reduce these fatal and serious injury crashes,” said THP Sgt. Andy Clendenen. “We’re trying to reduce them as much as possible and get people to develop better driving habits.”

Cledenen explained that better driving habits include slowing down, making sure you have room to stop and eliminating distractions.

“Most of these accidents have something that causes them, whether it’s distraction, speeding, sometimes incapacitation, and often times, seat belt use. If someone had worn a seat belt, they would still be alive today or they wouldn’t have suffered injuries as serious as some of these, and that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about preventable accidents,” Cledenen said.

He ended by encouraging people to slow down, saying: “Prevention is better than cure.”