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PSC transportation officers take part in Safe Driver Week on WV roads

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Transportation officers with the state Public Commission are taking part in Safe Driver Week across West Virginia this week in an effort to prevent traffic deaths.

PSC Transportation Sgt. Matthew Epling

“We’re making ourselves visible, which is what we do normally, but we’re looking at all kinds of safe driving like speeding, driving while using a cellphone or texting, any kind of aggressive driving,” Sgt. Matt Epling with the PSC told MetroNews.

Safe Driver Week was created by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in 2007. The goal is to reduce accidents, injuries and deaths involving large trucks, buses and passenger vehicles due to unsafe driving behaviors.

“We want fatalities to go down as well as injuries so people can go home safe at the end of the day,” Epling said while on traffic duty Monday.

CVSA holds the event every year on different weeks. The state PSC is joining law enforcement agencies across North America in the effort.

“We give out education material on it during the stop and weeks leading up to it, letting drivers know it’s part of the week all throughout North America,” Epling said.

State PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane wrote in a statement, “The PSC’s officers stop unsafe commercial vehicles and drivers on our state’s highways every day. They are tireless in their efforts to keep our roads safe, and we are proud to work with other officers throughout West Virginia and all of North America to again take part in Safe Driver Week.”

The CVSA said speeding was cited as this year’s primary focus because it has been a factor in more than a quarter of vehicle crash deaths since 2008 and that speeding is also the most frequent driver-related crash factor for all drivers.

Safe Driver Week runs through Saturday.





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