Operation Southern Slowdown

[Belle1962]

Amulti-state effort to curb speeding and reduce traffic fatalities is underway in the Southeast. Operation Southern Slow Down 2024, a week-long speed enforcement and education campaign, has begun in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The campaign, starting July 15, is a collaborative effort between state transportation and law enforcement agencies.

 

[fla4fun]

Amulti-state effort to curb speeding and reduce traffic fatalities is underway in the Southeast. Operation Southern Slow Down 2024, a week-long speed enforcement and education campaign, has begun in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The campaign, starting July 15, is a collaborative effort between state transportation and law enforcement agencies.

Interesting to see Georgia involved. My experience driving through Georgia has been that they strictly enforce speed limits. It’s always a pleasure to drive there. However, when I reach the Florida border it’s like a switch is flipped and everyone starts driving at least twenty over and weaving in and out of traffic. I rarely see anyone pulled over for speeding, so I am glad to see Florida is on the list. I will be out and about tomorrow and will see if there are additional officers out giving tickets.

 

[happily single]

Interesting to see Georgia involved. My experience driving through Georgia has been that they strictly enforce speed limits. It’s always a pleasure to drive there. However, when I reach the Florida border it’s like a switch is flipped and everyone starts driving at least twenty over and weaving in and out of traffic. I rarely see anyone pulled over for speeding, so I am glad to see Florida is on the list. I will be out and about tomorrow and will see if there are additional officers out giving tickets.

I agree with you about Georgia. My first road trip will forever be the “trip mommy almost went to jail for speeding” in Georgia. Man that was an expensive ticket (2009).

 

[fla4fun]

Well, I had to drive from Orlando to Cocoa Beach today. I saw lots of patrol cars watching the road/pulling people over, and one speed trap where they were catching them like flies. So at least in central Florida they are taking it seriously.

 

[georgina]

Too bad it is only for a week...

 

[MIChessGuy]

I have done many trips down I-75 from Michigan and can remember long stretches where there didn't seem to be any police at all. Kentucky in particular, I would drive through the entire state without seeing a deputy or a trooper or anybody, and all the traffic is going 90-whatever mph. I think Tennessee was similar. More recently, however, the cops have definitely been out and about, and I get the occasional laugh from Waze warning me about "police ahead" or some such.

 

[Mikey15]

“My speed” is somewhere between 70 & 75mph on interstates, so when most of the South just has speed limits of 70 or even 75 anyway, I never end up actually “speeding.”

It’s funny though because sometimes 72mph can be me passing people in the left lane, but other times it can be me in the right lane getting passed by tractor-trailers.

 

[mikehn]

Its nice they are finally putting resources back on traffic enforcement

 

[zackiedawg]

Usually in Florida, when I cruise the Turnpike from SE Florida up to Disney, I keep it right around 70-74 - I get passed by more cars than I pass overall.

But Florida highways have nothing on Southeast Florida's regular roads. We have some local roads here in Boca Raton where the AVERAGE speed in a 45MPH zone exceeds 70 - and people doing 70 are getting passed. You almost have to speed a little on these roads or you'll get rear-ended.

Then again, my area of Florida is plagued with the very worst combination of drivers - very old, conservative, super-slow drivers, and very young, careless super-speeders looking at their phone while weaving through lanes.

 

[Genie+]

How many more people will gt caught in these traps because their flight was cancelled and now they’re speeding to their destination? Ouch - double whammy Be careful out there.

 

[vinotinto]

We live in ATL and the number of BAAAAD accidents we've seen on I75 in GA driving to Disney is terrifying. It's not only speed, but volume - there are so many cars and trucks, not enough space between vehicles, cars weaving in and out, trucks on left, speeding up (70+) and then slowing down (under 60 mph). I hope they are not just looking at speed, but other behaviors.

 

[ftbaker1313]

When driving thru GA, the only places I have ever seen enforcement of speed limits are Macon and Valdosta areas. I try to move with the majority of traffic, accidents seem to happen more often when there is a large speed differential.

 

[Darklord77]

When driving thru GA, the only places I have ever seen enforcement of speed limits are Macon and Valdosta areas. I try to move with the majority of traffic, accidents seem to happen more often when there is a large speed differential.

If you are om I-75 south of Atlanta, the areas to look out for are: Perry, Cordele, Tifton, and Valdosta. These are Georgia State Patrol's favorite areas. You also need to be aware in all of Lowndes County which runs from the Florida line to about MM 30.

Interesting to see Georgia involved. My experience driving through Georgia has been that they strictly enforce speed limits. It’s always a pleasure to drive there.

Not as strictly as you think. You can easily get away with 10 mph over, more likely up to 14 mph without being looked at twice. The Super Speeder law kicks in at 85 mph on multi-lane roads. That's usually where the State Patrol and County deputies will start their enforcement. I set the cruise control at 80-82.

I agree with you about Georgia. My first road trip will forever be the “trip mommy almost went to jail for speeding” in Georgia. Man that was an expensive ticket (2009).

She was probably going more than 85 mph on the Interstate. That triggers a super speeder fine, which is more than the actual speeding ticket in most cases. To get in the go to jail realm, she would have to be going over 100. Georgia's speeding fines/points max out at 34 mph over the limit. Reckless Driving is a charge that is subjective. What one officer thinks is reckless, another officer might not.

 

[Darklord77]

How many more people will gt caught in these traps because their flight was cancelled and now they’re speeding to their destination?

I've never understood the term "speed trap." What makes them "traps"? A trap would imply that the prey is caught by surprise/ambushed. Speed limits are clearly posted on the Interstate and drivers are aware that cops enforce speed limits. When I hear speed trap, I envision cops with nets running around in the road.

 

[zackiedawg]

While speed limits are posted, and you could get pulled over by a cop anywhere for speeding, most of the time there is not a cop around and you can get away with speeding 95% of the time you drive. And with many roads the flow of traffic exceeds the posted limit - so just keeping up with the flow will mean you're going 5-10 over the limit.

But with speed 'traps', there's a concerted effort to set up places where police can hide relatively well, and wait for speeders to come through that spot, pulling over often handfuls of drivers at a time. The most onerous speed traps are sometimes designed to bring in revenue - pulling over people for driving 1-5 MPH over the limit...some cities or towns are known for having sudden drops in the speed limit where you are traveling in a 55MPH zone, come around a bend, find a sign announcing speed limit is 45MPH, and the moment you pass that sign, there's a cop car hiding behind a tree to pull you over before you could even reasonably reduce your speed.

Florida has quite a few smaller towns known for this tactic - the locals mostly know about them, but outside visitors may not. Down here in SE Florida, the town of Parkland is very well known for issuing tickets at 2MPH over the posted limit, and keeps the speed limits at 35MPH even on wide open, straight roads with no cross streets. If a resident has a parkland town sticker on their car, they have a little more leeway in the 1-5MPH-over range, but if not, even 37mph can get you a ticket. And often, the cops like to pick places where they can hide a bit so you don't see them until you are passing them. That's a classic 'speed trap'.

Decades ago, Florida state troopers used to employ a tactic at the Florida border nicknamed 'jaws' - they'd line up 5-6 cars on either side of the road, diagonally pointing downroad (median and right side), all partially hidden by the big 'welcome' signs, so people entering the state from GA going over the speed limit wouldn't notice until too late - and those cars would jump out one by one, each pulling over their quarry. It was not uncommon to see 8-10 people pulled over at once, then they'd all go back into position like teeth in a shark's mouth, to snag their next speeder.

 

[fla4fun]

But with speed 'traps', there's a concerted effort to set up places where police can hide relatively well, and wait for speeders to come through that spot, pulling over often handfuls of drivers at a time. The most onerous speed traps are sometimes designed to bring in revenue - pulling over people for driving 1-5 MPH over the limit...some cities or towns are known for having sudden drops in the speed limit where you are traveling in a 55MPH zone, come around a bend, find a sign announcing speed limit is 45MPH, and the moment you pass that sign, there's a cop car hiding behind a tree to pull you over before you could even reasonably reduce your speed.

This is what I saw, The street involved is a main artery for people getting off the 429 headed west towards Lake County. The speed limit as you exit is a well marked 45. After about half a mile it drops to 35, again well marked by warning signs, in part because there is a school there and in part because the road has some curves which hide people accessing the road in that section. There is a clump of trees right before a small shopping center that basically blocks the stores and parking from view until you are past the trees. I saw a couple of officers with speed guns who blended in with the trees, and one officer in the median stepping out and pointing people towards the parking lot, where there were several officers writing tickets.

It is a bad stretch for speeding, as people are feeding onto it after driving 70+ on the interstate, so I don’t mind that they were enforcing so aggressively. It’s not the first time they have done this at that spot, and I am always on my best behavior when I drive through there. At best, it is a 1-2 mile stretch of road and I figure I lose nothing by driving the speed limit through there. The worst part is that after the shopping center intersection, the speed drops to 25 on a road that used to be 45 until they put in some traffic circles with planters that obscure oncoming traffic entering the circle on the opposite side. It’s really difficult to drive that slow on a road built for higher speeds.