Law enforcement officers pulled over 74,765 commercial and passenger vehicle drivers during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 2013 Operation Safe Driver mobilization week, nearly triple the 26,487 stopped during last year’s event. Officers found that passenger car drivers continue to speed significantly more so than commercial vehicle drivers. Passenger vehicle drivers were issued a warning or citation for speeding 56 percent of the time, versus 7.3 percent for commercial vehicle drivers. The top three reasons warnings and citations were issued to both commercial and non-commercial vehicle drivers included: (1) speeding, (2) failing to use a safety belt, and (3) failure to obey traffic control devices.
During the week-long Operation Safe Driver campaign, Oct. 20-26, 2013, data was collected by 6,174 law enforcement officials at 1,868 locations across the United States and Canada. There also were numerous outreach events that occurred throughout the week at high schools, state capitals, state fairs, truck rodeos, sporting events and other locations.
“Operation Safe Driver continues to increase its impact each year in targeting problem behaviors by all drivers, whether they drive a passenger car or a CMV, and by taking action on those who need it,” said Sgt. Thomas Fuller from the New York State Police, CVSA’s President. “We will continue to grow our enforcement and outreach efforts until we can eliminate those driving behaviors that have been shown to cause or contribute to crashes involving large trucks and buses. The outreach efforts clearly demonstrate the value of partnerships between government and industry in helping to further deliver on our key safe driving messages.”
This year, 29,048 CMV traffic enforcement contacts were made; the total was 20,398 in 2012. Non-CMV traffic enforcement contacts totaled 45,717 in 2013; there were 6,089 in 2012. Roadside inspections totaled 44,882 in 2013 versus 36,221 in 2012.
The speeding numbers revealed the following:
- The percentage of warnings and citations per contact to CMV drivers for speeding decreased from 10.8% in 2012 to 7.3% in 2013.
- The percentage of warning and citations issued to passenger car drivers for speeding decreased from 56.3% to 56.0% in 2013.
The results also show a decrease in the number of warnings and citations for failure to use seat belts for commercial vehicle and passenger car drivers:
- For CMV drivers, the percentage dropped from 3.8% in 2012 to 2.9% in 2013.
- For passenger car drivers, the percentage dropped from 5.1% in 2012 vs. 2.6% in 2013.
“Highly visible traffic enforcement efforts like Operation Safe Driver save lives and we are proud to partner with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to crack down on distracted driving and other dangerous driving behaviors,” said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne S. Ferro.
Operation Safe Driver was launched in 2007 by CVSA, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), to address the problem of improving the behavior of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner — either by, in, or around commercial vehicles — and to initiate educational and enforcement strategies to address those exhibiting high-risk behaviors.