The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is conducting Operation Safe Driver Week July 15-21.
Traffic safety personnel will be on the lookout for unsafe driving behaviors by commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and passenger vehicle drivers, with the goal of working toward zero deaths on roadways.
Unsafe driver behaviors by CMV drivers and passenger vehicle drivers continue to be a leading cause of crashes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in its Large Truck Crash Causation Study, cited driver behavior as a critical reason for more than 88 percent of large truck crashes and 93 percent of passenger vehicle crashes.
During the weeklong blitz, enforcers will focus on traffic violations, seat belt enforcement, driver roadside inspections and regulatory compliance. They’ll look for driver behaviors like speeding, distracted driving, texting, failure to use a seatbelt while operating a CMV or passenger vehicle, following too closely, improper lane changes and failure to obey traffic control devices.
CVSA’s Operation Safe Driver Program was created to help to reduce the number of crashes, deaths and injuries involving large trucks, buses and passenger vehicles due to unsafe driving behaviors.
Last year, nearly 39,000 citations and warnings were issued to truck drivers during Safe Driver Week.
More than 84 percent of these violations were of the state and local moving variety.
Operation Safe Driver Week is sponsored by CVSA, in partnership with the FMCSA, and with support from industry and transportation safety organizations, and aims to help improve the behavior of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner – either in or around CMVs – through educational and traffic enforcement strategies to address individuals exhibiting high-risk driving behaviors.
To find out about Operation Safe Driver Week enforcement events going on in your area, contact the agency/department responsible for overseeing CMV safety within your jurisdiction.