Increasing commercial and non-commercial vehicle enforcement and educating truckers and car drivers about highway safety are the goals of a new driver performance initiative planned jointly by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Operation Safe Driver will be held nationwide Oct. 21-28, Steve Keppler, CVSA director of policy and programs, told a conference call with CVSA members Wednesday, July 18. Results of the FMCSA’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study led to the focus on driver issues, Keppler said. The study found that driver actions or inactions are to blame in 88 percent of crashes where the commercial motor vehicle is at fault.
In addition to increased traffic enforcement, the initiative’s objectives include increased seat belt enforcement, increased driver roadside inspections, increased driver regulatory compliance and implementing commercial driver and car driver educational and awareness programs.
The initiative “has a strong educational component,” Keppler says. “We want people to know we’re not just penalizing. We want to help correct problems, whether they are in a commercial motor vehicle or an automobile.”
