DOT seeks total ban on cell phone use while driving trucks and buses

Dec. 17, 2010
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing new regulations that would completely ban all hand-held cell phone use by truck and bus drivers while operating commercial vehicles

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing new regulations that would completely ban all hand-held cell phone use by truck and bus drivers while operating commercial vehicles.

“Every time a commercial truck or bus driver takes his or her eyes off the road to use a cell phone, even for a few seconds, the driver places everyone around them at risk,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This proposed rule will go a long way toward keeping a driver’s full attention focused on the road.”

The proposed rule is coming from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and would prohibit commercial drivers from reaching for, holding or dialing a cell phone while operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV).

Drivers who violate these restrictions would face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and disqualification of their commercial driver’s license (CDL) for multiple offenses. Additionally, states would suspend a driver’s CDL after two or more violations of any state law on hand-held cell phone use.

Motor carriers that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving would face a maximum penalty of $11,000. Approximately four million interstate commercial drivers would be affected by this proposal.

FMCSA added that its research shows that reaching for a hand-held cell phone while driving makes a commercial truck three times more likely to be involved in a crash, while dialing a hand-held cell phone while driving increases risk of a crash by six times.

The agency noted that nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2009, with distraction-related fatalities representing 16% of overall traffic fatalities in 2009, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research.

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