CVSA 2021 Operation Safe Driver Week: July 11-17

This year’s Operation Safe Driver Week is scheduled for July 11-17. Law enforcement will be paying particular attention to commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in risky driving behaviors.

Data suggests that traffic stops and interactions with law enforcement help reduce problematic driving behaviors. This year there will be special emphasis on speeding. Despite a drop in roadway travel last year due to the pandemic, nationally, traffic fatalities increased. Speeding was a factor in 26% of all traffic fatalities in 2018, killing 9,378 people or an average of more than 25 people per day. Last year, Operation Safe Driver Week issued more than 2,300 speeding tickets to commercial motor vehicles.

Preliminary analysis from the National Safety Council shows that the road collision fatality rate in 2020 increased 24% compared to 2019, even as the total number of miles driven dropped 13%. The increase in the rate of death is the highest estimated year-over-year jump NSC has calculated since 1924. While many of these fatalities can be attributed to speeding, there are other causes for concern.

In addition to speeding, cooperating law enforcement will be tracking other dangerous driver behaviors throughout Operation Safe Driver Week. This includes reckless driving, distracted driving, insufficient following distance, improper lane change, failure to obey traffic control devices, failure to use a seat belt, evidence of substance abuse, etc.

Distracted driving kill more than 3,000 people in 2019. Of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, nearly half were not wearing seat belts. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone.

Contact the experts at Interstate Motor Carriers to stay up to date with inspection initiatives, driver safety practices, regulatory compliance, and more.