CVSA’s Safe Driver Week is July 12-18, agents will focus on speeding
North American law enforcement personnel will be on the lookout for unsafe drivers on roadways July 12-18 as a part of CVSA’s Safe Driver Week. This year the focus is on speeding. Drivers in violation will be pulled over and may be issued a warning or citation, according to CVSA.
Despite the drop in traffic on roadways in March and April because of COVID-19 stay-home orders, many jurisdictions reported a severe spike in speeding, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).
The average speed on interstate highways, state highways and expressways in some metropolitan areas increased by as much as 75 percent compared to January and February, according to the GHSA statement.
“It’s essential that this enforcement initiative, which focuses on identifying and deterring unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, go on as scheduled,” said CVSA President Sgt. John Samis of the Delaware State Police. “As passenger vehicle drivers are limiting their travel to necessary trips and many commercial motor vehicle drivers are busy transporting vital goods to stores, it’s more important than ever to monitor our roadways for safe transport.”
A Samsara study of its 15,000 trucking customers looked at traffic and driving before, during and after lockdowns because of COVID-19 across the U.S. and noticed more speeding and less hard braking by truck drivers. It also sampled five cities, including Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco. Speeding jumped 40 percent in those cities in early April compared to a 20 percent increase nationwide. Samsara set its pre-COVID baseline for the week of March 8.
2019 results
During last year’s Operation Safe Driver Week, officers issued 46,752 citations and 87,624 warnings to drivers for traffic enforcement violations, ranging from speeding to failure to wear a seat belt. Of that, 1,454 commercial vehicle drivers were cited for speeding, while 2,126 were issued warnings.
During that same week, more than 16,100 passenger vehicle drivers received speeding tickets and more than 21,000 were issued warnings.
