Law enforcement personnel issued more than 70,000 warnings and citations as part of Operation Safe Driver Week, a driver-focused safety initiative aimed at curbing dangerous driver behaviors through interactions with law enforcement.
Operation Safe Driver Week, which took place July 12-18, was the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) first enforcement initiative of the year because of the postponement or cancellation of other enforcement campaigns due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, despite the challenges associated with the pandemic, 3681 enforcement officers from 55 U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions interacted with 29,921 commercial motor vehicle drivers and 36,500 passenger vehicle drivers during this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week.
Officers issued a total of 71,343 warnings and citations throughout the week, consisting of 42,857 traffic enforcement violations and 28,486 other state/local driver violations.
Traffic enforcement violations include unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, improper lane change, failure to wear a seatbelt, etc. State/local driver violations include vehicle-related observations an officer may notice during a traffic stop, such as mirror equipment violations, expired license plate tags, inoperative lamps, etc.
Commercial motor vehicle drivers were issued 10,736 warnings and citations for traffic enforcement violations: 4659 citations and 6077 warnings. Passenger vehicle drivers received 17,329 citations and 14,792 warnings for traffic enforcement violations, totaling 32,121 warnings and citations.
Altogether, passenger vehicle drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers received a total of 21,988 traffic enforcement citations and 20,869 warnings during 2020 Operation Safe Driver Week.
Speeding, which was the focus of this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week, was the top traffic enforcement violation for both types of drivers. Passenger vehicle drivers received 14,378 citations and 11,456 warnings for speed-related offenses. Commercial motor vehicle drivers were issued 2339 speed-related citations and 3423 warnings.
The top five traffic enforcement citations given to commercial motor vehicle drivers were:
- Speeding/violation of basic speed law/driving too fast for the conditions — 2339
- Failure to use seat belt while operating commercial motor vehicle — 1003
- Failure to obey traffic control device — 617
- Using a hand-held phone/texting — 269
- Improper lane change — 122.
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