During Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada increased roadway traffic safety enforcement and education to address dangerous driving behaviours by CMV drivers and passenger vehicle drivers.
Member law enforcement agencies of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance issued 59,193 warnings and citations to drivers of passenger and commercial motor vehicles for unsafe driving behaviours during the 2017 edition of Operation Safe Driver Week.
The Maryland-based group issued the results of its enforcement campaign via news release on Tuesday. This year’s campaign took place Oct. 15-21. The program aims to combat the number of deaths and injuries resulting from crashes involving large trucks, buses and passenger vehicles through educational and enforcement strategies.
Among the figures included with the release, law enforcement issued nearly twice as many citations and warnings combined to commercial drivers than passenger vehicle drivers; however, passenger drivers received more citations (12,350) than commercial drivers (8,164).
Less than one half of one percent of warnings or citations issued to commercial drivers were for inattentive or careless driving. About 1.3 percent of passenger vehicle drivers were issued warnings or citations for the same violation.
Failure to wear a seat belt was the third-most cited traffic violation for both groups of drivers, accounting for 2.6 percent of commercial drivers and 9.4 percent of passenger vehicle drivers’ violations.
Speeding was the top violation among passenger vehicle drivers, making up over 43 percent of all warnings and citations. Among commercial drivers, speeding was the second-most commonly cited violation, accounting for just over 7 percent of all violations.
“Countless lives are tragically lost on our roadways due to unsafe, risky, inattentive or careless acts by drivers,”
CVSA Executive Director Collin Mooney said in the news release. “In fact, driver behaviour is often the most important factor in crashes. Operation Safe Driver Week raises awareness about safe driver operations in and around trucks and buses.”
The top five warnings/citations issued to CMV drivers:
1 State/Local Moving Violations – 84.2 percent (of warnings/citations)
2 Speeding – 7.4 percent
3 Failure to Use Seat Belt – 2.6 percent
4 Failure to Obey Traffic Control Device – 2.5 percent
5 Using a Handheld Phone – 0.8 percent
The top five warnings/citations issued to passenger vehicle drivers:
1 Speeding – 43.5 percent (of warnings/citations)
2 State/local moving violations – 36.2 percentFailure to use seat belt – 9.4 percent
3 Failure to obey a traffic control device – 2.3 percent
4 Improper lane change – 1.5 percent
The following is a closer look at this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week traffic enforcement results:
• A total of 38,878 citations/warnings were issued to CMV drivers.
• A total of 20,315 citations/warnings were issued to passenger vehicle drivers.
• 30,714 warnings and 8,164 citations were recorded for CMV drivers.
• 7,785 warnings and 12,530 citations were recorded for passenger vehicle drivers.
• 43.5 percent of passenger vehicle driver warnings/citations were issued for speeding, versus 7.4 percent of CMV driver warnings/citations.
• When it comes to distracted driving, 0.1 percent of CMV driver warnings/citations were for texting and 0.8 percent were for using a handheld phone. For passenger vehicle drivers, 0.7 percent of warnings/citations were for texting and 0.5 percent were for using a handheld phone.
• Less than one percent of warnings/citations for CMV drivers (0.6 percent) and passenger vehicle drivers (0.9 percent) were for following too closely.
• 16 CMV drivers received a warning/citation for using/equipping a CMV with a radar detector.
• 19 CMV drivers received a citation for operating their vehicle while ill or fatigued; 86 received a warning.
