Speeding remained the most common violation detected by law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada throughout this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week, organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance from July 10 to 16.
During this period, officers issued a combined total of 2,219 warnings and 2,024 citations for speeding to both commercial vehicle operators and passenger car drivers. Among these, commercial motor vehicle drivers received 1,594 warnings and 731 citations, while passenger vehicle drivers received 625 warnings and 1,293 citations for infractions related to excessive speed.
In total, law enforcement officers in both Canada and the United States conducted 11,448 traffic stops involving commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle drivers exhibiting unsafe driving behaviors during the week. They issued a grand total of 4,494 citations and 5,756 warnings to drivers from both categories, as reported by the CVSA.
A cumulative sum of 4,592 warnings and 2,634 tickets or citations were administered to commercial motor vehicle operators, with officers distributing 1,164 warnings and 1,860 tickets or citations to drivers of passenger vehicles.
In the United States, a total of 4,329 warnings and 2,258 tickets or citations were delivered to commercial motor vehicle drivers, while passenger vehicle drivers received 1,063 warnings and 1,503 tickets or citations.
Meanwhile, in Canada, law enforcement officers issued 263 warnings and 376 tickets or citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers, and passenger vehicle operators received 101 warnings and 357 tickets or citations.
Drivers were either issued warnings or citations for what are termed as “other state/local driver violations,” which stood as the primary reason for tickets or citations issued to commercial motor vehicle operators and the second most common reason for passenger vehicle drivers. “Other state/local driver violations” encompass infractions like lacking a registration certificate, failing to provide proof of insurance, violating size and weight regulations, and having defective equipment. These violations are typically discovered by officers after initially stopping a driver for a different offense.
In total, 1,634 warnings and 1,119 tickets or citations were dispensed for other state/local driver violations. Out of these, 1,357 warnings and 859 tickets or citations were handed out to commercial motor vehicle drivers, while passenger vehicle drivers received 277 warnings and 260 tickets or citations for similar violations.
Additionally, another significant unsafe driving behavior identified during Operation Safe Driver Week was the failure to wear a seat belt. A combined total of 512 warnings and 553 tickets or citations were issued.
Among these, commercial motor vehicle drivers received 455 warnings and 467 tickets or citations for not wearing their seat belt, while passenger vehicle drivers were given 57 warnings and 86 tickets or citations for failing to use their safety belt properly.
Furthermore, the use of mobile devices, including texting, while driving was also a prominent violation. In total, 243 warnings and 262 tickets or citations were issued to drivers who were caught texting or using a handheld device while operating a vehicle.
Commercial motor vehicle drivers faced 156 warnings and 132 tickets or citations for the act of texting or using a handheld device while operating a commercial motor vehicle. It’s important to note that the U.S. Department of Transportation strictly prohibits the use of any hand-held mobile devices by commercial motor vehicle drivers. On the other hand, passenger vehicle drivers received 87 warnings and 130 tickets or citations for engaging in texting or using a handheld device while driving.
Additionally, the failure to adhere to traffic-control devices emerged as one of the top five reasons for warnings and tickets or citations for both types of drivers. A total of 715 warnings and 320 tickets or citations were issued to both commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle drivers combined. Of these, 30 warnings and 24 ticket citations were directed at passenger vehicle drivers for not obeying traffic-control devices, while commercial motor vehicle drivers received 685 warnings and 296 tickets or citations for the same violation.
These statistics for the current year represent a significant decrease compared to Operation Safe Driver Week in 2022.
In the previous year, officers in both Canada and the United States pulled over more than 35,000 commercial motor vehicles and passenger vehicles, issuing 26,164 warnings and citations to both categories of drivers.
In 2022, officers issued a total of 8,586 citations and 7,299 warnings for infractions related to speeding, violating basic speed laws, or driving too fast for road conditions. This included 2,577 warnings to commercial motor vehicle drivers and 4,722 to passenger vehicle drivers. Citations were given to 1,490 commercial motor vehicle drivers and 7,096 passenger vehicle drivers.
It’s worth noting that these figures differ from this year’s enforcement week due to the implementation of a new data collection process for submitting roadside data online by the CVSA.
William Elovirta, who serves as the Director of Enforcement Programs for CVSA, explained that this year’s statistics have seen a decline across the board for all the initiatives that were included in the data collection change. According to Elovirta, CVSA attributes these lower numbers to the transitional phase associated with the implementation of the new data collection process.
“I would also note that a few jurisdictions were also committed to other highway safety enforcement activities and/or had personnel committed to other policing priorities that normally would have participated,” said Elovirta. “For some agencies, the change was a challenge as compared to the previous process for submitting data.”
Elovirta said, “However, during the CVSA Annual Conference and Exposition in Grapevine, Texas the Operation Safe Driver program participants were committed to continuing to move forward in the use of the new online data collection process. CVSA is following up with jurisdictions to see how to better support those jurisdictions that had challenges. This year’s activity moving forward will be the baseline for future comparisons.”
Thirty-eight U.S. states and Canadian provinces participated in this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week.
Next year’s Operation Safe Driver Week is scheduled for July 7-13.
