Today, in a ceremony held at Massachusetts State Police General Headquarters in Framingham, Mr. Richard Bates, Division Administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) presented two FMCSA Leadership Awards to the Massachusetts State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section (CVES).
The FMCSA originally announced the awards at their March 25, 2008 Leadership Award Conference held in Denver, Colorado during which the Massachusetts State Police CVES received two awards and an honorable mention. The awards announced at the Denver conference were presented today to the Massachusetts State Police CVES Commander, Lieutenant Scott Szala.
At today's ceremony, Mr. Bates said "Once again the Massachusetts State Police has distinguished itself as a leader in commercial vehicle safety." Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Smith, Commander of the Massachusetts State Police Division of Field Services, commended the members of the CVES for their hard work and stated, "The efforts of this team are obvious, in 2007 you inspected 20,497 commercial vehicles and stopped 9,413 commercial motor vehicles for traffic violations. Your hard work and the actions of your team are responsible for saving lives and protecting property of Massachusetts Citizens."
The first award presented to the Massachusetts State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section was in recognition of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' achieving the Lowest Large Truck and Bus Fatality Rate for a medium-sized state during the calendar years 2004 through 2006. The second award presented was for Traffic Enforcement Effort for a medium-sized state. This award was given to the agency exhibiting the highest concentration of commercial vehicle traffic enforcement activity in fiscal year 2007 relative to traffic enforcement and overall roadside inspection activity across the nation.
The Massachusetts State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section has engaged in an aggressive effort to reduce commercial motor vehicle involved crashes by employing high visibility enforcement in high crash corridors. Additionally, a grant from the FMCSA allowed the CVES to purchase the most current speed enforcement tools available. As a result of the efforts of the Massachusetts State Police CVES and those of other State Police agencies throughout the country, the nationwide large truck and bus crash rate is at its lowest level since the records were first compiled in 1974.
