During a weeklong blitz last October, law enforcement officials across North America pulled over almost 60,000 vehicles as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operation Safe Driver week. In addition, 24,184 roadside inspections of commercial drivers and vehicles were conducted.
The top five warnings and citations issued to commercial vehicle drivers during that time were:
(1) speeding,
(2) failure to use a safety belt
(3) failure to obey traffic control devices
(4) improper lane change
(5) following too closely.
The top five warnings and citations issued to non-commercial vehicle drivers were:
(1) speeding
(2) failure to use a safety belt
(3) failure to obey a traffic control device
(4) possession/use/under the influence of alcohol
(5) improper lane change.
In one of the key findings, officers found that non-commercial motor vehicle drivers speed 10 times more than commercial vehicle drivers. Non-CMV drivers were issued a warning or citation for speeding 52.3 percent of the time, versus 5.8 percent for CMV drivers.
In other results:
- The number of warnings and citations per contact to CMV drivers was 0.45 whereas the number of warnings/citations per contact to non-CMV drivers was 1.27, nearly triple the amount.
- The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers for speeding decreased from 7.3 percent in 2013 to 5.8 percent in 2014. It was 10.8 percent in 2012.
- The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers for failing to obey traffic control devices increased from 1.8 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent in 2014.
- The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers in 2014 for failure to use seat belts was 2.8 percent. It was 2.9 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent in 2012.
During the 2014 campaign safety investigators also used driver performance data from FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) algorithm to target motor carriers for on-site interventions. As a result, 193 compliance investigations were conducted during Operation Safe Driver 2014:
- 23 percent of the motor carriers investigated received proposed Unsatisfactory Safety Ratings (versus 15 percent for all of FY2014),
- 53 percent received proposed Conditional Safety Ratings (versus 28 percent for FY2014).
- 46 percent of the investigations resulted in enforcement actions (versus 33 percent for FY2014).
