Law enforcement in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have teamed up for “Operation Southern Shield”.

Officials say they are looking for drivers who aren’t wearing their seatbelts, traveling above the speed limit, and those who are driving distracted.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 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 – about 26% of nationwide traffic fatalities that year.

Officials say “The goal of Southern Shield is to not write a lot of tickets but to show drivers how speeding drastically increases their chances of being in a crash,”

Besides greatly increasing the risk of being killed or seriously injured in a crash – speeding reduces the effectiveness of seat belts and other safety equipment in vehicles, which often leads to more severe injuries and increases the stopping distance after the driver perceives a danger.