The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is calling on all drivers to help reduce aggressive and distracted driving and save lives across North America with its annual Operation Safe Driver campaign mobilization week October 16-22, 2011.


During Operation Safe Drive week law enforcement agencies across North America will be responding vigorously to aggressive and distracted driving behavior.

Aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors by truck and bus drivers, as well as the passenger car drivers operating unsafely around them, are primary factors in more deaths on our roadways than a 737 airplane crashing every other week, CVSA says.

"Each year more than 36,000 people die on the roadways throughout North America -- about 4,000 of which are related to large trucks and buses," said Stephen A. Keppler, CVSA's executive director. "Many of these deaths are the direct result of unsafe and aggressive driving practices by both passenger and commercial vehicle drivers."

Operation Safe Driver is sponsored by CVSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), along with strategic partners including American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, American Trucking Associations, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials, American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, and more.

CVSA will hold a media conference October 13, 2011 in Memphis, TN, with FMCSA, Tennessee Highway Patrol, FedEx and members of the Southwind High School Student's Against Destructive Decisions (S.A.D.D.) chapter. The event will highlight the importance of driving without distractions.

Operation Safe Driver will take place across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its aim is to increase activities related to commercial vehicle and non-commercial vehicle traffic enforcement; safety belt enforcement; driver roadside safety inspections; driver regulatory compliance; implementation of commercial driver educational and awareness programs to the motor carrier population; and, raising awareness to the motoring public about safe operations around trucks and buses.

For more on the program, visit www.cvsa.org, or www.operationsafedriver.org.