From city streets to the highways, drivers across Southwest Florida can expect one thing this week: more law enforcement watching for speeders.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced that for the next few days, law enforcement agencies across the region will be assisting in a multi-state effort to crack down on speeding and aggressive driving.
“Speeding isn’t just a traffic violation. It’s one of the leading causes of serious and fatal crashes across our nation,” Marceno said.
“This operation isn’t about tickets. It’s about education, enforcement and prevention.”
Representatives from the sheriff’s office, Florida Highway Patrol and Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sanibel, and the Florida Gulf Coast University police departments gathered for a press conference at the LCSO headquarters to announce the launch of Operation Southern Slow Down.
Maj. William Harris of the highway patrol said that this initiative is across multiple Southern states — Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee — from July 13 to July 19 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
When Operation Southern Slow Down was conducted in 2025, law enforcement handed out more than 7,000 tickets for speeding.
Motorists can expect high visibility of increased police presence on roadways.
There are no speed limits anywhere in Florida that are greater than 70 mph, Harris said.
Jamie Driggers, the interim district secretary for District 1 of the Florida Department of Transportation, said he responded to more than 10 speed-related fatalities while working for the agency.
“Those are images you never forget. They are permanently fixed in my memory,” Driggers said.
Driggers said that data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shows that speeding and aggressive driving resulted in more than 3,000 deaths in Florida in 2025.
According to the highway safety group’s Crash Dashboard, there were 13,492 crashes in Lee County in 2025, 105 of which were fatal.
This year, there has been 6,464 crashes as of June 20, 22 of which have been fatal.
Collier County had 5,808 crashes last year, 31 of which were fatal.
And so far this year, there have been 2,594 crashes, 16 of which have resulted in deaths.
What is Florida’s “Super Speeder” law?
In an effort by the state government to alleviate “dangerous excessive speeding” across the state, the Florida House passed House Bill 351, more commonly referred to as the “Super Speeder Law.
This legislation, which went into effect in July 2025, establishes “dangerous excessive speeding” as a criminal offense and outlines the penalties to be faced by violators of the law.
As defined by the bill, exceeding the speed limit by 50 mph or more, or driving at 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens others’ safety is considered dangerous excessive speeding.
Violators of the new law face up to 30 days in jail, a fine of $500 or both for a first conviction. For a subsequent conviction, violators face up to 90 days in jail, a fine of $1,000 or both.
Those who violate the law within five years of a prior conviction will lose driving privileges for at least 180 days and/or have the vehicle impounded.
Within less than 6 months of the law being passed, the Florida Highway Patrol made more than 150 arrests across Southwest Florida of people excessively speeding, according to Lt. Greg Bueno of the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Florida High Patrol reports seeing a 55% decrease in road fatalities as a result of operations such as Operation Southern Slow Down.
Marceno said that the law enforcement agencies partnering in this operation don’t measure success based on how many citations officers write.
“We measure success by the number of crashes that will never happen, the injuries that are prevented and the lives that will make it home safely.”
The sheriff urged the people of Lee County to help the efforts of Southwest Florida’s law enforcement.
“Leave a few minutes earlier, put the phone down, buckle your seatbelt, obey the speed limit.”
“A few seconds saved behind the wheel are never worth risking a lifetime of regret.”
Tayeba Hussein is a breaking news reporter for The News-Press & Naples Daily News. Reach her at thussein@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: SW FL anti-speeding push begins, thousands of drivers may get tickets
Reporting by Tayeba Hussein, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tayeba Hussein, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
