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Safe Driver program begins Oct. 18
By eTrucker Staff
In an effort to reduce crashes involving trucks, buses and passenger vehicles, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is joining with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and other organizations to educate all drivers on the toll their behavior takes on society. The message: “Cutting it close can cut your life short.”
"Driving is a privilege, and all drivers need to share the road responsibly,” says Stephen Keppler, CVSA’s interim executive director. "Operation Safe Driver shines a spotlight on this responsibility and is implementing strategies to improve driver behavior and performance."
Operation Safe Driver is a national awareness and enforcement campaign that targets improving both commercial and noncommercial driver behavior and performance through effective enforcement, education and awareness strategies. The program runs Oct. 18-24 across North America and is supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Governors Highway Safety Association, American Trucking Associations, United Motorcoach Association, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the National District Attorneys Association, among others.
“Operation Safe Driver helps convey the message that every driver behind the wheel of a vehicle has a personal responsibility to make our highways as safe as they can be," says Rose A. McMurray, FMCSA acting deputy administrator. "Drivers of commercial vehicles have an especially important obligation because of the time they spend on the road.”
A new component of the Operation Safe Driver program this year takes the issue of aggressive and distracted driving by car drivers around large truck and buses directly to teens across the country. Schools will be teaching teens about the risks of dangerous driving behavior during this week and concentrate on the unsafe driving practices of drivers who share the road with larger, commercial vehicles. The “Teens and Trucks” training course was developed by the Arizona Trucking Association, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, CVSA, FMCSA and ATA. "This year’s campaign takes the importance of highway safety directly to our young people so they can adopt safe driving habits for a lifetime of safe driving practices," McMurray says.
For more information on the campaign, go to www.operationsafedriver.com.
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