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Officers cracking down on distracted truck drivers during week-long operation

GEORGIA — Drivers may see more flashing blue lights on highways around metro Atlanta.

Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer went along as officers pulled over truck drivers for taking chances that could be dangerous.

Operation Safe Driver targets the biggest vehicles on metro Atlanta's highways.

"If you don’t have business in Atlanta stay outside the perimeter," said Lieutenant William Satterfield.

Channel 2's Linda Stouffer rode along with officers in the motor carrier compliance division.

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As they pulled over one truck, they found 10 violations. They said another professional driver didn’t belong on I-20 anyway.

"(They're) supposed to have business inside 285, a drop or something like that. He didn’t have that today so we got 2 violations on him today," Satterfield said.

In this crackdown, they are actively looking for drivers who are also distracted driving aggressively or too tired to safely have a truck on our roads.

"You have to drive in respect of what your profession is if you don’t, you may have to deal with us," Satterfield said.

Satterfield says many accidents with trucks- are the fault of another driver but he wants to fix bad habits that make a wreck worse.

"They need to create space they need to slow down, they know the vehicles' braking capabilities," Satterfield explained.

James Hodo told Stouffer he’s been driving 30 years without an accident and sees regular drivers taking too many chances.

"They don’t understand we can’t just stop- instant and then its everybody- everybody needs to pay more attention to the roads," Hodo said.

All week officers will be inspecting trucks and double checking speeds to keep highways safer for everybody.