• 14
  • September
    2011

UPDATE

The recommendation to ban talking and texting for truck drivers while behind the wheel was made into a final rule, announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation on November 23, 2011. For additional information, please see our post from November 29th discussing the change.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that commercial drivers, including truck drivers, should be banned from using cell phones while behind the wheel. The recommendations include a complete prohibition against talking or texting on a mobile phone while driving or operating a commercial vehicle.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said talking or texting while driving is not worth the risks it poses to others on the road, "Texting or talking on the phone while driving can turn deadly in a matter of seconds, particularly when a big rig or a bus is involved."

Georgia truck accident attorneys have seen the devastation that distracted driving can cause. Add to the distraction caused by calling or texting a possibly 75 foot long, 80,000 pound semi truck traveling at highway speeds and the actions of a distracted truck driver can touch the lives of many people in an instant.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) banned texting while driving a commercial truck or bus in September of 2010. The new recommendation of the NTSB is to take the prohibition one step further, banning use of cell phones entirely by commercial drivers while behind the wheel, at the helm or otherwise driving or operating a commercial vehicle.

The Dangers of Georgia Truck Accidents and Distracted Driving

The NTSB's recommendation to ban cell phones came after a hearing regarding a 2010 truck accident in Kentucky that killed the truck driver and 11 others. The truck driver crossed the median on I-65 and then crashed, head-on, with a passenger van. Investigators reported that the driver was distracted by cell phone use, which probably caused the crash.

The American Trucking Association supported the original ban on texting while driving, but has not yet supported a complete ban on cell phone use. Studies have shown mixed results that on the impact of hands-free phones on distracted driving or related accidents.

The Kentucky crash is not the only instance of cell phones interfering with the safety of commercial vehicles. In 2010, a tugboat in Delaware collided with a tour boat, sinking the tour boat and killing two passengers. The wreck was blamed on cell phone and laptop distractions. A 2008 California railway crash killed 28 people and was blamed on the engineer not paying full attention to the tracks because he was sending text messages.

Source: Safety board: Ban cellphone use by truckers