Canadian enforcement officers pulled over 1,828 commercial drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week from July 11-17, issuing 136 warnings and 593 citations in the process.

“Since we know that most crashes are caused by drivers, the best way to prevent crashes is to start with the cause – drivers,” said CVSA president John Broers, a captain with the South Dakota Highway Patrol. “If seeing a patrol car causes a driver to slow down in a high-risk crash area of the roadway, then we’ll put patrol cars in that area. If being stopped by an officer causes that driver to be more conscientious, then our officers will pull over unsafe drivers.”

Speed-related offences were behind 289 of Canada’s commercial vehicle citations, followed by failing to wear a seat belt (160), and texting or using a handheld phone (83). Failing to wear a seat belt triggered 38 warnings, followed by speed-related offences (35 warnings), and operating while ill or fatigued (22 warnings).

But the focus wasn’t on commercial drivers alone.

Officers also pulled over 7,759 passenger vehicles on this side of the border, issuing 139 warnings and 3,427 citations.

Speed-related issues were behind 2,861 of those violations and 82 warnings. Other citations included failing to wear a seat belt (172 citations) and failing to obey a traffic control device (155). Eighty-two of the warnings were for speed-related issues as well.

Collectively, law enforcement officers in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. stopped 46,058 passenger and commercial vehicles.

In the U.S., officers pulled over 23,871 commercial vehicles, issuing 4,420 warnings and 3,158 citations. Their counterparts in Mexico pulled over 2,449 commercial vehicle drivers, issuing 1,115 warnings and 412 citations.

Across all three jurisdictions, speed-related issues led to 1,690 citations for commercial vehicle drivers, and failing to use a seat belt netted 1,225. The Top 5 issues were rounded out with failing to obey a traffic control device (522), texting or using a handheld phone (344), and improper lane changes (112).

Speed was also behind 2,549 warnings for commercial drivers, with 954 warnings issued for failing to use a seat belt. Those were followed by failing to obey a traffic control device (869), texting or using a handheld phone (336), and following too closely (310).