Law enforcement personnel will increase traffic safety enforcement Oct. 15-21 as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual Operation Safe Driver Week. Drivers can expect increased CMV and passenger-vehicle enforcement throughout the week.
Operation Safe Driver Week is a partnership between CVSA and the Federal Motor Carriers Association to “help improve the behavior of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner – either in or around a CMV – through educational and traffic enforcement strategies to address individual’s exhibiting high-risk driving behaviors.”
Law enforcement will be patrolling for the following dangerous driving behaviors, among others: speeding, distracted driving, texting, failure to use a seatbelt while operating a CMV or passenger-vehicle, traveling too closely, improper lane change, and failure to obey traffic control devices.
In 2016, nearly 21,000 warnings and citations were issued to commercial trucks, buses, and passenger vehicles during Operation Safe Driver Week. Of the total warnings and citations issued, 11,182 of them were to CMV drivers. Of that number, 6,078 were warnings and 5,104 citations. The top five warnings and citations issued to commercial drivers during the 2016 Operation Safe Driver Week were for moving violations (56.7 percent of the 11,182 warnings and citations), speeding (19.6 percent), failure to obey traffic control device (7.6 percent), failing to use a seatbelt (7.1 percent) and using a handheld phone (2.4 percent). Following too closely and improper lane changes were also among the top violations during the week for commercial drivers.
