FLORIDA — ‘Operation Southern Slow Down’ is in full effect, as Monday kicked off day one of the week-long crackdown on speeding drivers.
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The week-long campaign is a joint effort with law enforcement officials in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The goal is to reduce the large number of speed-related fatalities and severe injury crashes in those five states.
Officials say the message is simple: slow down.
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Florida Highway Patrol Captain Dan DeWeese was one of several law enforcement officials who attended Monday’s news conference.
“I can tell you from personal experience that having to knock on a door in the middle of the night to have to tell a family that their loved one is not coming home, is horrible,” DeWeese said. “Our job is to go out and try to slow this whole process down and to make our roads safe, so we don’t have to knock on those doors.”
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The campaign targets speeding and aggressive drivers on the roadways.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that speed was a factor in 29% of total traffic fatalities in the United states in 2020. That’s up 3% from the year before.
Jack and Karen Ondusko stopped at the Florida Welcome Center, while traveling from South Carolina to Sarasota.
“In the afternoon, when people are getting tired and cranky, there’s some that are super aggressive,” Jack said. “I’m always waiting and wondering where are the police now?”
Karen said they’re grateful to walk into their home safely after every trip.
“We pray right before we leave every day,” Karen said. We pray along the way and thank God for those close calls that we have and preventing us from being hurt.”
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As law enforcement officers say, this campaign is about saving lives.
Renee Graham is the captain of special operations at the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
“Focus on what you’re doing behind the wheel. Know that you’re driving a vehicle that is several thousands of pounds and essentially is a deadly weapon in and of itself. Paying attention to what you’re doing is very important,” Graham said.
She said that every year in Florida, hundreds of lives are lost unnecessarily due to speeding drivers.
“Hundreds of citizens, members of our local communities, family members who won’t see another birthday or another Christmas or another Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. Lives that could still be here with us today if someone had only just left their appointment or work a little earlier.”
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Graham said that if drivers would have slowed down, the state of Florida would have had over 22,000 fewer crashes in 2021.
Likewise, there would have been 1,200 fewer serious injuries and 518 fewer funerals in Florida last year.
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Action News Jax spoke with Don Calello and his passenger RJ, who were traveling from New Jersey.
“We feel like there are more fatal accidents occurring with cars,” Calello said. “We’ve had several in New Jersey, and it’s mostly attributed to speeding. We notice here, we’re going 75 on the freeway and people fly by you like you’re standing still.”
Even a younger passenger who won’t be driving for a few more years agrees with the push to slow down on the roadways.
“Sometimes when I see them fly by I’m like, ‘Oh no, what’s going to happen?’ I’m scared,” RJ said.
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Greg Evans is the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 2 Secretary.
“Mind the sign,” Evans said. “Slow down. Drive the speed limit. We have the speed limits posted for your convenience out there. Driving on the systems of Florida in the southeast United States, it is a privilege. If you do not comply with that, then these gentlemen in enforcement will remind you of that.”
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