Vehicle size and weight violations topped the list of the most common warnings and citations given during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operation Safe Driver Week inspection event in October.

Operation Safe Driver Week took place from Oct. 18-24, 2015 during which law enforcement officers pulled over more than 21,000 commercial and passenger vehicles while also conducting 19,480 roadside inspections.

The event is a CVSA program aimed at decreasing the number of fatalities and injuries caused by unsafe driving behaviors.

Rounding out the top five warnings and citations issued to commercial vehicle drivers were speeding, failure to use a seatbelt, failure to obey a traffic control device, and using a handheld phone. There were 3,929 warnings given out to commercial drivers and 4,062 citations.

Speeding was by far the most common reason passenger vehicles were pulled over, making up 27.3% of all warnings and citations vs. 9.3% for commercial drivers. Non-commercial vehicles were also pulled over for failing to use a seat belt, failure to obey a traffic device, following too closely and improper lane change.

Non-commercial drivers were also given warnings and citations at a higher rate than commercial drivers, at 0.69 times per contact compared with 0.58 for commercial.

“Unsafe driving behaviors can result in lives lost. That’s what Operation Safe Driver Week aims to combat through driver enforcement and education,” said Jay Thompson,  CVSA president. “Our mission is to make our roadways as safe as possible.”

Operation Safe Driver was launched in 2007 by the CVSA to combat the number of deaths resulting from crashes involving large trucks, buses and cars by improving the behavior of all drivers operating in an unsafe manner.

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