Operation Safe Driver Week targets the reckless and careless

Operation Safe Driver Week returns to the highways across North America in July, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced. 

The safe-driving enforcement and outreach initiative, from July 7 to 13, aims to improve driving behaviors through educational and traffic-enforcement strategies and driver interactions with law enforcement.

Throughout Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are looking for commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, drunk or drugged driving, etc. According to CVSA, drivers engaging in such behaviors will be pulled over by law enforcement and may be issued a warning or citation.

See also: Brake Safety Week scheduled for late August

During the 2023 weeklong safety blitz, officers issued nearly 5,000 warnings and more than 2,500 tickets and citations to commercial vehicle drivers. Passenger car drivers received more than 1,100 warnings and 1,800 tickets. 

The focus area for this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week is reckless, careless, or dangerous driving. CVSA defines reckless driving as operating a vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. Careless and dangerous driving is operating a vehicle without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other motorists or people on the road.

Speeding was the top infraction drivers were cited for during the previous enforcement period, according to CVSA. Commercial drivers received 1,575 warnings and 715 tickets between July 10 and 16, 2023. Speeding accounts for nearly one-third of all roadway fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

NHTSA detailed how effective, high-visibility communications and outreach are essential to successful transportation safety programs. However, communications and outreach programs are likely to have an effect if they are tied to vigorous enforcement. Operation Safe Driver Week aims to improve the safety of our roadways through proactive driver safety outreach and education, as well as by addressing unsafe driving behaviors through responsive traffic enforcement when drivers are identified as engaging in dangerous driving behaviors.

Operation Safe Driver Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Safe Driver Program. The program offers resources for teen and new drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers, along with safe-driving public service announcement videos, which are available for download and distribution. CVSA also offers Operation Safe Driver Week postcards free to its industry and enforcement members. The postcards are available in English, French, and Spanish.

CVSA noted that state, provincial, territorial, and local law enforcement jurisdictions; the motor carrier industry; the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; Transport Canada; and Mexico’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation are working together to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities on North America’s roadways.