FHP Operation Safe Ride Yields 593 Citations

In an effort to reduce the number of auto accident deaths and injuries involving large trucks, the Florida Highway Patrol performed Operation Safe Ride last month. On October 24 and 25, FHP concentrated their enforcement efforts on commerical vehicles traveling on all of the interstates, the Florida Turnpike and other high volume highways. In the two day period they issued a total of 593 citations to commercial vehicle drivers, 158 of them were speeding violations, 46 were citations for following too closely and there were 196 faulty equipment citations.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration nationally in 2005 there were 4,932 traffic fatalities involving large trucks, a 10% increase from 1995, and 22% of those were excess speed-related. 76% of the fatalities and 69% of the injuries involved another large truck. When the death was caused by an accident involving a rear-end collision of a passenger vehicle and a large truck, the passenger vehicle most often rear-ended the large truck, not the other way around.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Automobile Accidents.