Once again the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) have scheduled an Operation Safe Driver Week for this summer. This year's operation will happen July 10-16, 2022.
SPEEDING will be the major focus for officers during this Safety Week.
Law enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be on roadways throughout that week issuing warnings and citations to commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, improper lane change, drunk or drugged driving, etc.
Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its latest annual traffic crash report, showing that over 38,000 lives were lost in traffic crashes nationwide in 2020 – the highest number of fatalities since 2007. The show that the number of crashes and traffic injuries declined overall, but fatal crashes increased by nearly 7%. The NHT
SA’s report statistics show that speed-related fatalities increased by 17%, thus the reason for the focus on speeding during Operation Safe Driver Week.
“The rising fatalities on our roadways are a national crisis; we cannot and must not accept these deaths as inevitable,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) created Operation Safe Driver Program to improve the driving behaviors of all drivers and reduce the number of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles on our roadways through educational and traffic enforcement strategies. This program was created by CVSA with support from federal agencies in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the motor carrier industry, and transportation safety organizations.
“This safe driving initiative and campaign focuses specifically on drivers’ actions – whether it’s something a driver did, like speeding, or something they didn’t do, such as not paying attention to the driving task,” said CVSA President Capt. John Broers with the South Dakota Highway Patrol. “This focus on drivers’ behaviors is our effort to identify and educate drivers who are operating dangerously on our roadways, with the goal of preventing crashes from occurring.”
Speeding and distracted driving can be avoided by paying attention to changing speed limits and the road ahead, watching your speedometer, being mindful of your surroundings and giving yourself plenty of time to reach your destination.
For more information about Operation Safe Driver Week enforcement events, check with the CVSA or department responsible for overseeing commercial motor vehicle safety in your area.