Improvements were seen in both drivers and vehicles regarding the number of out-of-service (OOS) violations and citations issued per roadside commercial vehicle safety inspection during the annual Operation Safe Driver education and enforcement blitz, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced. However, the results also showed an increase in moving traffic warnings and citations for all drivers.

This year’s Operation Safe Driver event included 5,231 law enforcement personnel at 1,177 locations across the United States and Canada.

Data collected during the third annual campaign, held Oct. 18-24, reveals that while some aspects of driver and vehicle violations were down from 2008 with respect to safety inspections, there was an increase in 2009 in traffic enforcement warnings and citations issued for truck, bus and passenger vehicle violations. This year’s event included 5,231 law enforcement personnel at 1,177 locations across the United States and Canada.

The campaign, created in 2007 by CVSA in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, addresses the problem of improving the behavior of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner — either in or around commercial vehicles — and to take aggressive enforcement action on those exhibiting high-risk behaviors.

“The Operation Safe Driver Campaign reminds us that while we have seen steady progress in the areas of commercial vehicle and highway safety, there is still more we must do to promote safe driving practices,” says FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.

Highlights of the 2009 Operation Safe Driver enforcement results include:

• 30,294 CMV roadside inspections, of which 5.4 percent resulted in the driver being placed OOS and 26.1 percent of the Level I Inspections resulted in the vehicle(s) being placed OOS. In 2008, there were 32,708 inspections conducted and a driver OOS rate of 5.3 percent;

• For drivers: 0.44 violations per roadside inspection (0.43 in 2008); 0.08 OOS violations per roadside inspection (0.14 in 2008) and 0.04 citations per roadside inspection (0.08 in 2008);

• For vehicles: 1.12 violations per roadside inspection (0.74 in 2008); 0.19 OOS violations per roadside inspection (0.38 in 2008) and 0.05 citations per roadside inspection (0.11 in 2008); and