An enforcement operation targeting commercial vehicles, including trucks, school buses and hazardous-materials carriers, led to 28 truckers being ticketed on the José de Diego expressway (PR-22) for speeding or not wearing a seat belt, said Ángel Cruz Nolasco, interim president of the Negociado de Transporte y Otros Servicios Públicos. The count covered only the morning, as the operation, carried out with the Highway Authority and the Police, has not concluded.
Cruz Nolasco said the effort was not focused on fines but on preventing accidents, and Police ticketed 14 truckers for speeding and 14 for not using a seat belt. The operation was held during a visit by representatives of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which provides federal funding to the participating agencies. The mission aims to reduce fatal crashes involving commercial vehicles: statistics show 11 deaths in 2022, 14 in 2023, 11 in 2024 and eight in 2025, with no figure yet for 2026.
Cruz Nolasco attributed most accidents to drivers falling asleep or aggressive driving. The agency runs such operations weekly on roads like the Luis A. Ferré expressway and PR-2, and may scale up to monthly large-scale operations. The federal agency grants the Negociado about $2.3 million annually.