The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance will be on the lookout for unsafe drivers from July 14 to 20. The event is called Operation Safe Driver Week, and it will affect both CMV and passenger vehicle drivers in Virginia and across the U.S. The focus of this year’s event is once again speeding.
The 2018 Operation Safe Driver Week resulted in speeding citations for 16,909 passenger vehicle drivers and 1,908 CMV drivers. Several were cited for traveling too fast for the road conditions they were in (17 CMV drivers and 714 passenger vehicle drivers, to be exact). A total of 57,405 citations and 87,907 warnings were issued. In all, law enforcement contacted with 113,331 drivers during the event.
According to 2015 statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding drivers are behind 94% of all traffic crashes. The CVSA adds that speeding is to blame for almost a third of all car crash fatalities. Besides speeding, law enforcement will be checking for behavior like calling and texting behind the wheel, not wearing seatbelts, following too close behind vehicles and disobeying traffic signals.
Some people question whether increased law enforcement can reduce car crash rates. The CVSA conducted a study on this in 2014 and found that ticketing campaigns do actually have a positive impact.
Drivers have a duty to maintain control over their vehicles, and when negligent behavior results in motor vehicle accidents, they will be at fault. A crash victim who wants to file a personal injury claim should know that Virginia follows the rule of contributory negligence. Being even partially at fault will bar plaintiffs from recovering damages. This is one reason why a victim may want to hire a lawyer. Legal counsel may handle the settlement negotiations and, if necessary, litigation.