WASHINGTON — The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) annual Operation Safe Driver education and enforcement blitz last year saw improvements in both drivers and vehicles regarding the number of out-of-service (OOS) violations and citations issued per roadside commercial vehicle safety inspection.

However, the results also showed an increase in moving traffic warnings and citations for all drivers, which, according to the CVSA, shows more work is needed to educate both passenger and commercial vehicle drivers about operating their vehicles more safely.

Data collected during the third annual Operation Safe Driver campaign from Oct. 18-24, reveals that while some aspects of driver and vehicle violations were down from 2008 with respect to safety inspections, there was an increase in 2009 in traffic enforcement warnings and citations issued for
truck, bus and passenger vehicle violations.

Last year’s event included 5,231 law enforcement personnel at 1,177 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

“Every day inspectors and law enforcement personnel strive to remove those bad actors, whether they are truck, bus, or car drivers, from our roads,” said Steve Keppler, the CVSA’s interim executive director. “And while we are making progress in some areas, the data show that we still have some work to do.

“Law enforcement officers also are acutely aware that education is a core component of enhancing highway safety, and in this regard are being more proactive in their efforts.”

Details on the 2009 Operation Safe Driver enforcement results include:

Of 30,294 CMV Roadside Inspections, 5.4 percent resulted in the driver being placed out-of-service and 26.1 percent of the Level I Inspections resulted in the vehicle being placed out of service. In 2008, there were 32,708 inspections conducted and a driver OOS rate of 5.3 percent.

For Drivers: 0.44 violations per roadside inspection (0.43 in 2008); 0.08 OOS violations per roadside inspection (0.14 in 2008); 0.04 citations per roadside inspection (0.08 in 2008).

For Vehicles:1.12 violations per roadside inspection (0.74 in 2008); 0.19 OOS violations per roadside inspection (0.38 in 2008); 0.05 citations per roadside inspection (0.11 in 2008).