Commercial drivers collect 10,709 citations in blitz

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GREENBELT, Md. – Enforcement teams issued 57,405 citations and 87,907 warnings during Operation Safe Driver Week held July 15-21 and coordinated by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA).

About 51,000 officers interacted with 113,000 drivers of commercial vehicles and cars alike. Commercial drivers collected 10,709 citations and 29,908 warnings. Their four-wheeled counterparts on the road collected 46,696 citations and 57,999 warnings.

The top citations for commercial vehicle operators included violating state or local laws (6,008 citations), speeding (1,908), failing to wear a seatbelt (1,169), failing to obey a traffic control device (754), and using a handheld phone (262).

Passenger vehicles drivers were dinged for state and local laws (21,511), speeding (16,909), failing to use a seatbelt (3,103), inattentive or careless driving (1,655), and failing to obey a traffic control device (739).

According to a 2016 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 18% of drivers involved in a fatal crash were speeding at the time of the crash and 27%of those killed were in a crash involving at least one speeding driver. Forty-eight percent of those killed in U.S. motor vehicle crashes that year were not wearing a seat belt, while 3,450 were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers, CVSA says.

“During Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement officers throughout the United States and Canada aimed to reduce the number of crashes on our roadways through an effective mix of education and enforcement of highway safety,” said CVSA President Capt. Christopher Turner with the Kansas Highway Patrol. “By improving the driving behaviors of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner, either in or around commercial motor vehicles, we are working our way toward the goal of zero roadway deaths.”

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John G. Smith is Newcom Media's vice-president - editorial, and the editorial director of its trucking publications -- including Today's Trucking, trucknews.com, and Transport Routier. The award-winning journalist has covered the trucking industry since 1995.


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  • I have been saying this for years, Just look at the figures. If governments really want to impact road safety(no pun intended) then open up the inspection stations to do the job they should be doing. Inspecting ALL vehicles on the road not just trucks its not the department of commercial vehicles or the Ministry of commercial vehicles its transport. If you really want safer vehicles on the road then inspect them all equally and see what that does to the end of year death on our road figures.

  • One day private sector and government will classify this trade and promote “DRIVER TRAINING” AT A “SERIOUS” LEVEL then COMMERCIAL DRIVING ACCIDENTS and safety will be minimal !