ATLANTA — If you’re hitting the road this weekend, you may want to take note that police across five southern states – including Georgia – will be cracking down on speeders.
Fatal accidents are up on Georgia's roads.
Channel 2’s Lori Wilson obtained preliminary numbers from the Department of Transportation that show more than 1,500 people were killed in traffic crashes in the state last year.
That’s why five states have joined together to slow drivers down in Operation Southern shield
Georgia will join Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina in the week long coordinated effort by 16 regional traffic networks to get people to ease that lead foot.
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“If I were to ask you to run as fast as you could into a concrete wall, would you run as fast as you could or would you pull up just a little bit?” said Col. Mark McDonough, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
Maggi Gunnels, with the National Transportation and Highway Safety Board, said the point of the crackdown is to get drivers to “slow down, prevent crashes, (and) prevent injuries and death(s).”
“The fact that law enforcement are working together across states is something we want to continue to do,” Gunnels told Wilson.
“If you could pick the speed, if I knew I was going to be in an accident, would I want to be traveling 80 in a 55 or would I want to be traveling 55?” McDonough told Wilson.
McDonough said if you are in an accident, if you’re traveling the speed limit and not above it, the chances of serious injury or death go way down.
A message he hopes will get people to take their time on the roads so that everyone is safe.
Operation Southern Shield will be exactly one week long.
Officials say drivers really need to be speed aware on Interstates 75/85, 95 and 20.