Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, March 30, 2022:
This year’s Operation Safe Driver Week targeting unsafe driving behaviors is scheduled for July 10-16, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced Tuesday.
Law enforcement personnel in the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be on roadways throughout that week issuing warnings and citations to commercial and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, improper lane change, drunk or drugged driving, etc.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its latest annual traffic crash report, showing that 38,824 lives were lost in traffic crashes nationwide in 2020 – the highest number of fatalities since 2007 -- even as truck-involved fatalities were down. And while the number of crashes and traffic injuries declined overall, fatal crashes increased by 6.8%.
[Related: The 14-state truck speed trap]
Due to speed-relating fatalities increasing by 17% in 2020, according to NHTSA’s data, law enforcement officers will be keying in on identifying and targeting speeding during Operation Safe Driver Week.
The Operation Safe Driver Program was created to improve the driving behaviors of all drivers and reduce the number of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles on roadways through educational and traffic enforcement strategies. Operation Safe Driver Week was created by CVSA with support from federal agencies in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the motor carrier industry, and transportation safety organizations.
