Truck Drivers Who Were Caught Speeding

truck police small pixlr

Truck drivers caught speeding show there are an alarming number of unsafe commercial truck drivers on the road today, an assertion backed up by hard evidence uncovered over one week earlier this summer.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is a not-for-profit group of law enforcement and transportation safety officials throughout North America.  The CVSA’s focus is to make commercial transportation – semi-trucks and motor coaches – safer and the driving public less vulnerable to negligent operators.

In July the group held its annual Operation Safe Driver Week, a highly visible manifestation of its stated mission.  From July 12 – 18, police manned highways in the United States and Canada to document unsafe commercial truckers.  In those seven days alone, law enforcement stopped nearly 30,000 big-rig drivers.

Truck Drivers Speeding in Missouri

Going into the event the CVSA announced it had a special emphasis: speeding truckers. The COVID-19 pandemic was a driving force for this year’s focus.  The coronavirus has required people to spend more time at home and off the road.  In Missouri, many drivers have taken advantage of these open roads to openly and dramatically speed, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The CVSA found truck drivers who were speeding.  Lots of them.

Of the 29,921 18-wheelers the police stopped, 10,736 truckers received warnings or tickets.  Specifically, 4,659 semi-truckers were issued tickets for a variety of unsafe driving practices.

Half of all commercial truck drivers who were given citations were issued tickets for speeding.  Even more truckers were warned by police for going too fast for road or traffic conditions.

Top Tickets Issued to Commercial Truckers

After speeding, the top reasons why truckers received tickets included:

·         Failure to obey traffic control device

·         Improper lane change

·         Speaking or texting using a hand-held cell phone

Federal laws prohibit over-the-road truckers from using a hand-held cell phone in any fashion while on the job. In announcing this year’s results the CVSA noted that commercial truckers who use a hand-held cell phone are six times more likely to crash or swerve into another lane than those not distracted by their mobile device.

Unfortunately, these latest results are the rule rather than the exception.

Speeding also was the number one reason commercial truckers were ticketed in last year’s Operation Safe Driving Week. The top five truck driver violations mirrored this year’s results, too.  The CVSA didn’t release the 2020 ticketed actions beyond the top five, but in 2019, other dangerous truck driver actions that were ticketed included:

·         Following too closely

·         Under the influence or possession of drugs and/or alcohol

·         Inattentive or reckless driving

·         Driving while fatigued

And going through the results of several more previous CVSA Operation Safe Driver Week events reveal similar findings.

So, based on these results, there are numerous dangerous truck drivers on the road, driving in the same careless ways, year after year after year.

If you had loved one die or you were seriously injured in a crash caused by a commercial tractor-trailer, speak with a truck accident lawyer experienced in holding irresponsible trucking companies and truck drivers accountable for their actions.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.

Authored by Gray Ritter Graham, posted in Blog September 17, 2020

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