Multiple Lexington County law enforcement agencies participating in Operation Southern Shield

Cayce, SC (Paul Kirby) – Multiple Lexington County law enforcement agencies are once again participating in a combined crackdown to slow speeders, thus preventing traffic accidents and fatalities as a result of crashes. This annual operation is a combined effort to find, stop, and ticket people who drive too fast, distracted, without a seatbelt, and impaired.

The crackdown is called Operation Southern Shield. It began July 15 and runs through July 19. Many law enforcement agencies across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee are participating in the operation and are cracking down on drivers in violation during Operation Southern Shield.There are several in Lexington County who participate. One is the Cayce Department of Public Safety. They formed a traffic unit recently and are well equipped and ready to bust speeders in their city. Our SC State Troopers are also on board and on the lookout.

Operation Southern Shield focuses on the heavy summer travel period when the rate of fatal crashes in the southeast is higher than any other time of year. Data from the NHTSA shows speeding has been a factor in nearly one-third of all traffic deaths in the United States over the last two decades. In 2017, speeding killed 9,717 people, which was about 26% of nationwide traffic fatalities that year.

This campaign aims to reduce the number of drivers who are speeding, impaired, distracted and not wearing seat belts all across the Southeast. If that describes you, be prepared to pay. There’s one sure out for you. You can voluntarily comply with all the rules of the road so that you won’t get pulled over. It might just save your life and your paycheck.