The 2022 Operation Safe Driver Week (OSDW) will be held from Sunday, July 10th through Saturday, July 16th. This event is hosted by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and will focus on speeding incidents and will be carried out by law enforcement officers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
As noted on the CVSA’s page for the event,
“Roadway fatalities increased 24% [in 2020] over the previous 12-month period, despite miles driven dropping 13%. With the decrease in the number of vehicles on our roadways last year due to the pandemic, we expected a decrease in roadway fatalities; however, not only did the rate of roadway deaths increase, that increase is the highest estimated year-over-year jump the National Safety Council has calculated in 96 years.”
Last year’s OSDW also focused on speeding, as overall combined speeding violations (i.e. commercial and passenger vehicles) have been on the rise for several years. Commercial vehicle speeding citations during the 2020 event rose by 60% from the preceding year despite reduced traffic during the pandemic. Moreover, speeding citations made up 50% of the total violations given during the 2020 OSDW. Other recorded violations included failure to wear a seat belt, failure to follow traffic control devices, using a hand-held phone, and improper lane changes.
For the 2021 OSDW event, international CMV speeding citations dropped by 28% to 1690 counts but continued to be the number one violation, making up 42% of the total violations. At 1325 of the speeding citations, 78% of the international CMV speeding citations were issued in the United States.
For more information about the CVSA and Operation Safe Driver Week, visit https://www.cvsa.org/programs/operation-safe-driver/operation-safe-driver-week/.