(ATLANTA) – Motor Carrier Compliance officers from the Georgia Department of Public Safety are teaming with commercial vehicle inspection officers from throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico this week for Roadcheck 2009, an annual international effort to promote safety and security on North American highways.  The enforcement event will run from Tuesday through Thursday and is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, North America’s leading commercial vehicle safety enforcement organization.

Chief Mark McLeod, Director of the Motor Carrier Compliance Division, said MCCD officers will be patrolling throughout the 72-hour period of Roadcheck 2009 checking commercial vehicles and their drivers at inspection sites along major highways.  "Our goal for this operation is to emphasize both safety and security," he said, "and our officers will not hesitate to issue out of service orders to any commercial vehicle found to be a safety hazard." 

The operation will also encourage commercial vehicle drivers to wear their safety belts.  Chief McLeod said the most recent survey shows 72 percent of commercial drivers comply with the federal law that requires safety belt use.  

Although inspectors perform this work day in and day out, the three-day operation places special emphasis on year-round commercial vehicle and driver safety inspections and other driver safety programs aimed at saving lives on North American highways.  Chief McLeod said the number of inspections conducted in Georgia continues to grow each year as the volume of commercial traffic increases.