OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla., Feb. 3, 2026—The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office plans to crack down on speeding and aggressive driving in unincorporated areas of the county.

A $120,000 Florida Department of Transportation grant will be applied to a campaign of high-visibility enforcement, education and community outreach initiatives targeting speed-related violations.

According to the FDOT Highway Safety Matrix, Okaloosa County ranks number two out of 18 counties in its group for speed and aggressive driving-related serious injuries or fatalities.

“It’s a big problem in Okaloosa County,” said OCSO East District Capt. Jason Fulghum. “Okaloosa County, per capita, ranks in the top 40 percent for crashes involving or caused by speed and aggressive driving.”

The program is voluntary overtime for deputies to conduct targeted enforcement with their overtime salaries paid through the grant.

“[The] grant from the Florida Department of Transportation pays deputies overtime to come out and target speed and aggressive driving activity throughout the county,” said Fulghum. “Any deputies, when they’re not on duty, can sign up.”

Focus will be on hotspots of unincorporated areas of Okaloosa County, as well as the cities of Destin and Mary Esther.

Deputies are given an area to work and are told where the most crashes related to speed and aggressive driving have been occurring within that area.

“Primary objective here is to protect lives by preventing traffic crashes,” said Fulghum. “Getting the word out and educating people about the dangers associated with the activity that they don’t often think about is the best way to do that.”

Although the program is focused on education, drivers may still receive a driving violation.

“It’s education-oriented—not saying that we won’t issue a citation if a citation is needed—but we realize that educating the public is the best way to curb this behavior,” he said.