Bad drivers in the South face a rough week ahead

There’s never a good time to be a bad driver, but motorists in the South will need to be especially mindful of the rules of the road starting Monday.

Law enforcement agencies from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida are banding together this week for the second annual Operation Southern Shield, increasing their efforts to make Southern highways safer.

Lt. Bob Beres, spokesman for the South Carolina Highway Patrol, said law enforcement is in the middle of what he called “the 100 deadly days of summer,” the time from Memorial Day to Labor Day when the weather is hot, kids are out of school and people are traveling more and drinking.

Naturally, officers in the five states will be watching for speeders — Beres said he’s using “#SlowYourRoll” on his social media posts — as well as those driving under the influence or not adhering to seat belt regulations.

“[The campaign] is focused on speed. Last year [during Operation Southern Shield,] we saw a significant reduction in all traffic crashes during the campaign. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t be looking for other violators, distracted, drunk or drugged,” said Harris Blackwood, director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Speaking of “other violators,” motorists should take note of a new Georgia law aimed at distracted drivers: The Hands-Free Georgia Act, which went into effect July 1 and forbids drivers from holding or cradling mobile phones. Although drivers can receive (and make) calls hands-free and use single-ear headphones, handling a mobile phone to talk, text, watch videos, peruse social media, check email, etc., is now illegal in the state.

“We have erected signage at all of our state lines on the interstate highways, as well as other heavily traveled roads, to announce the new law,” Blackwood said. “While the decision to issue a citation rests with the officer, we will certainly be engaged in an educational effort to make Georgians and our visitors aware of the new statute.”

That might not be the only law with which motorists are unfamiliar.

Drivers in Tennessee, for example, may still be unaware of the state’s “Slow Poke” law that prohibits motorists from cruising in the left lane of an interstate or multi-lane highway without passing vehicles on the right. (The law was passed in Tennessee in 2016, though it has been on the books for longer in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.) Left-lane cruisers disrupt the flow of traffic, creating bottlenecks and causing more accidents. And the “slow poke” rationale that speeders are the problem doesn’t wash with the law: Pass or get out of the way and don’t attempt to regulate the speed of other drivers.

Blackwood added that different routes will be emphasized on different days of the campaign. For instance, on one day there will be increased enforcement on the Interstate 75 corridor from the Kentucky/Tennessee border all the way through Georgia and Florida. Other days will see focus on I-20 from South Carolina across Georgia and Alabama to the Mississippi border and I-85 from the North Carolina/South Carolina border across Georgia and to Montgomery, Alabama.

The campaign “is a shared opportunity for us all,” Blackwood said. “It is an example of how our states work together to reduce injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

He also pointed out that “the local jurisdiction where the citation is issued receives the fine revenue.”

And if you don’t want to contribute to that revenue, drive safely.