Police departments slowing down traffic in "Operation Southern Shield"

Police departments in Florida and four other states launched a weeklong safety initiative to slow down drivers called "Operation Southern Shield".

The initiative started yesterday and continues through Sunday, July 23rd. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, speeding is the cause of 30 percent of the traffic deaths in the United States each year. The campaign aims to reduce the number of drivers who are speeding, impaired, distracted and not wearing seat belts, according to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, which oversees grants used for the program.

Extra patrols are being funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Statistics from the agency show wrecks killed about 35,000 people in the United States in 2015, an increase of 7 percent from 2014. In four of the five states participating in Operation Southern Shield, traffic fatalities increased in 2015. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina saw higher fatalities, while deaths were down slightly in Tennessee.

Operation Southern Shield is being held in July between other major highway safety campaigns to coincide with the larger-than-normal numbers of drivers on roads because of summer travel, officials said.