The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has announced July 13-19 as this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week.
During Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be on the lookout for commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors. Drivers engaging in such behaviors will be pulled over by law enforcement personnel and issued a warning or citation.
The focus of this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week is reckless, careless or dangerous driving. Any person who drives a vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is driving recklessly. Careless/dangerous driving is defined as operating a vehicle without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other motorists or people on the road.
During last year’s Safe Driver Week:
- officers issued 2,439 warnings and 1,583 tickets/citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers
- a total of 1,694 warnings and 1,226 citations/tickets were issued for speeding
- a total of 354 warnings and 554 tickets/citations were issued to drivers who were not wearing seat belts
- a total of 158 warnings and 169 tickets/citations were issued to drivers who were texting or using a mobile device while driving
- 30 drivers received warnings and 49 were given a ticket/citation for possession/use/under influence of drugs/alcohol
In addition to traffic enforcement, driver education initiatives are also a major part of Operation Safe Driver Week.
