Speed continues to kill motorists in West Virginia and across the U.S. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speed played a role in 26% of all fatal traffic accidents nationwide in 2017, claiming the lives of 9,717 people. In addition, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance says that speed has been a contributing factor in almost one-third of all the deadly crashes that have occurred over the last 20 years.

To help reduce the number of speed-related accidents, the CVSA has made speeding violations the focus of its annual Operation Safe Driver Week. During this event, which is scheduled to take place from July 14 to 20, law enforcement officers will be pulling over speeding drivers throughout North America. They will also be issuing citations to drivers who are impaired, distracted, texting while behind the wheel, ignoring traffic signals, not wearing their seat belts and more.

While drivers dislike getting traffic tickets, research has found that citations save lives. For example, a CVSA study discovered that the “Click It or Ticket” campaign, which focused on seat belts, reduced fatal accidents by around 11%. It also found that accidents decreased by 0.28% for every 1% increase in citations issued. During last year’s Operation Safe Driver Week event, officers issued 18,817 speed-related citations. Of those, 16,909 were issued to drivers of passenger vehicles and 1,908 were issued to commercial vehicle drivers.

Accidents involving commercial trucks can be caused by speeding, negligent truck maintenance, truck driver fatigue and more. Victims of truck accidents could be owed thousands of dollars in compensation for a variety of damages, including medical expenses, lost wages and property loss. A personal injury attorney could review a victim’s case and work to obtain a settlement on their behalf.