The South Carolina State Transport Police, a division of SCDPS, has joined the North Carolina and Florida Highway Patrol and the Georgia Department of Public Safety for a joint enforcement effort along a 900-mile stretch of the I-95 corridor called Safe Drive On I-95. This Target Zero effort, held through Thursday, is aimed at curbing highway fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles.
STP officers will be joined by the SC Highway Patrol and local law enforcement as well. The effort will focus enforcement efforts on commercial motor vehicles to monitor driver behavior, check compliance of Federal Regulations and enforce SC state law to ensure safety around commercial motor vehicles. There will be another enforcement operation July 29-31.
SCDPS Director Leroy Smith said CMV fatalities in the state are on the decline but emphasizes efforts like DRIVE are vital to continuing to bring those numbers down.
“We saw a 24 percent reduction in CMV fatalities last year,” Smith said. “Our goal is ZERO fatalities and to get there, we have to continue proactive, high visibility enforcement in high-collision areas.”
I-95 is one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the United States. Thirteen percent of the nation’s CMV fatal crashes occur in the four states that this initiative will encompass (NC, SC, GA, FL). From 2011-2013, there were 384 collisions on I-95 involving Commercial Motor Vehicles, including 20 lives lost and 204 injuries. The primary contributing factors in these collisions were driving too fast for conditions and improper lane usage/change.
DRIVE stands for Distracted, Reckless, Impaired, Visibility Enforcement.
“This enforcement and education effort focuses on operator safety, ensuring vehicles are in good condition but also on educating drivers of passenger vehicles about the safe way to interact with CMVs,” STP Col. Leroy Taylor said. “Historically, whenever there are fatal crashes between large trucks and passenger vehicles, the data show that the passenger vehicle is at fault in about 75 percent of those.
In addition to the enforcement effort, STP officers will also be at rest areas along I-95 to distribute safety materials.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety includes the Highway Patrol, State Transport Police, Bureau of Protective Services, Office of Highway Safety and Justice Programs, Immigration Enforcement Unit and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. Our mission is to ensure public safety by protecting and serving the people of South Carolina and its visitors. www.scdps.gov
