REGINA — Risky behaviours are the focus of Operation Safe Driver Week July 7 to 13.
The Saskatchewan Highway Patrol (SHP) is asking everyone to follow safe driving habits to help improve roadway safety.
Acknowledged annually by law enforcement agencies across North America, Operation Safe Driver Week is co-ordinated by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). The week is designed to encourage and improve safe driving behaviours of private vehicle operators and commercial vehicle drivers through education, traffic enforcement and interactions with police officers.
During Operation Safe Driver Week, SHP personnel will employ heightened traffic enforcement strategies across the province — such as traffic stops — focusing on risky behaviours like speeding, distracted or aggressive driving and failure to wear seat belts. Officers will also be watching for drivers impaired by alcohol and drugs, aiming to reduce the devastating impact of impaired driving.
Statistics underscore the effectiveness of traffic stops and interactions with law enforcement in reducing unsafe driving practices, the CVSA notes in a press release. By engaging with drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week, authorities look to make roadways safer by addressing high-risk behaviours.
These efforts are crucial in light of the prevalence of speeding, distracted driving and impaired driving as leading factors in traffic fatalities in Canada, the SVSA states.
Operation Safe Driver Week was launched by CVSA in 2007 in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, law enforcement and industry partners to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by crashes involving large trucks, motorcoaches and passenger vehicles.
