Commercial fleet operators, truck and bus drivers, and other commercial vehicles will be the target of a substantial increase in traffic enforcement efforts over the next week, beginning on Sunday, July 12th according to the Michigan State Police. They’ll be watching all traffic, including passenger vehicles, more closely through July 18th.
Authorities from the Michigan State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division tell us they are planning stepped up patrols and enforcement aimed at unsafe driving behaviors by commercial motor vehicle and passenger-vehicle drivers. Operation Safe Driver Week is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), in partnership with government, industry and safety organizations.
According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, many jurisdictions are seeing a severe spike in speeding. Less traffic due to COVID-19 restrictions may be encouraging some drivers to ignore traffic safety laws, including speed limits. To address that alarming trend, the CVSA selected speeding as the focus area for this year’s effort.
Motor Carrier Lt. Steven Horwood says, “Operation Safe Driver Week is another great example of a program that focuses on moving Michigan ‘Toward Zero Deaths,’” and adds, “Unsafe driver behavior continues to be the leading cause of crashes. During next week’s operations, we are increasing commercial vehicle traffic enforcement focusing on behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving and aggressive driving.”
The effort is part of the Michigan State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division’s participation in Toward Zero Deaths, which is the national strategy on highway safety and unites stakeholders from engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical services with the common goal of reducing traffic fatalities to zero.
