The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is currently promoting Operation Safe Driver Week (October 15-21, 2017), during which law enforcement agencies throughout the country, including Missouri, are engaging in increased traffic safety enforcement and educational outreach. According to the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, Missouri enforcement personnel will identify unsafe driving behaviors by commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and passenger-vehicle drivers and issue warnings and citations (Operation Safe Driver Week Underway in Missouri).
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) notes that unsafe driver behavior is the primary cause of over 88 percent of large truck crashes and 93 percent of passenger-vehicle crashes. Of the nearly 4,000 people killed in large truck crashes in the United States per year, approximately 16 percent are truck occupants and 69 percent are occupants of passenger vehicles. In Missouri alone, 132 people were killed and 4,034 injured in traffic accidents involving a CMV in 2016.
Because many of these accidents are the direct result of driver error, enforcement personnel will be monitoring dangerous driver behaviors, including speeding, texting, distracted driving, improper lane change, traveling too closely, and failure to wear a safety belt. Last year enforcement personnel issued warnings or citations to 20,648 CMV and passenger-vehicle drivers across the country during the 2016 Operation Safe Driver Week.
Activities during Operation Safe Driver Week are designed to increase traffic enforcement, safety belt enforcement, driver roadside inspections, and driver regulatory compliance. In addition to enforcement, transportation safety officials are offering educational and awareness safety programs to CMV and passenger-vehicle drivers.
Safety promotions like these are a positive contribution to the goal of protecting travelers on America’s roadways, but in the event, you are injured in a traffic accident, please contact Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman for a free consultation. SJB only receives a fee in the event of a successful resolution of your case.