Trucker Texting Ban Raises More Issues
Business and leisure travelers across the U.S. are expressing support for a new regulation approved by the federal government Jan. 26, 2010. Effective immediately, it is illegal for drivers operating commercial trucks and large passenger vans and buses to text while their vehicles are in motion. While many people admit it will be difficult for police to catch disobedient drivers in the act of texting, the mere existence of the law makes many feel our highways will be safer to travel.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which issued the ban, realizes that they aren’t going to change the world with this new law. After all, there are many other things that take a driver’s attention off the road including eating, drinking, smoking, talking to passengers, fiddling with knobs and buttons on the console and certainly driver fatigue. But, as some say, one less distraction is better than shaking our heads in disbelief and doing nothing.
WHY IT’S BAD
The dangers of texting and driving are clear. The National Highway Safety Commission estimates that 6,000 people die each year from the mistakes of distracted drivers. Another 500,000 are injured. Of course the statistics are not all the fault of truckers. Drivers of passenger cars have fallen under similar scrutiny. Nearly two dozen states have banned texting while driving in passenger vehicles.
Yes, driving and texting is dangerous mix. It’s tough to concentrate on the road when you consider that typing and sending (or reading) a single text takes about five seconds. The volleying of messages, inherent in texting, multiplies that risk by five, ten, 20 times or more. And that’s just one digital conversation.
BUT MOBILE ELECTRONICS ARE IMPORTANT TO BUSINESS!
There is another side to this issue. Though they are in the minority, there are some trucking company owners who believe that the government should mind its own business, not theirs.
While we all want to curtail clearly dangerous activities on the road, often that same “distracting” equipment, when used conscientiously, can make drivers more productive.
It’s clear that interstate truckers and bus drivers spend great amounts of time on the move. And they are under pressure to complete their tasks quickly and in a cost-effective manner. It makes sense that the drivers will, from time to time, need to know:
- Where they are.
- Where they are going.
- What kind of traffic or construction lies ahead.
- What the folks at home base want them to do.
“Who are they to decide which driver activities are the most dangerous and at what point do their laws become a detriment to my business operations?” reacted one angry business owner.
ENFORCEMENT
Driving is supposed to be regulated by state, not federal government. So what gives the new law its bite? The threat of withholding federal highway funds. Plus, the fine is no slap on the wrist. There is a $2,750 penalty for breaking the law.
A spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety doubted that the new law would affect accident statistics because, he pointed out, it will be too tough to enforce. Semis and buses are high off the ground and if the driver does his texting below window level it is nearly impossible to observe this activity while he is up in his perch. When the truck is going at least 55 mph it will be even more difficult to get a visual.
COMPANY EXAMPLES:
The National Safety Council says that hundreds of American transportation and trucking companies were proactive and prohibited cell phone use while driving. For those that have not: What should supervisors of fleet management departments do to see that these rules are followed?
Here is what some companies are doing:
- Automaker Ford Motor Company endorsed a federal ban on texting and driving last September, preferring instead voice-activated communications.
- A Nashville company bans cell phones while driving, even hands-free and headsets. If the driver is written up by police, he had better keep it to himself because the company owners vow to pull phone records. The discipline is a week off without pay for the first violation and termination after the second.
- The vice president of First Truck Choice in Harlingen, TX skipped over a warning system for texting-and-driving violators, deciding instead to terminate the drivers immediately.
WHAT IS EXEMPT
Some people fear that, because other driver activities can be abused and are dangerous, the government could expand its new “no texting” law to a blanket ban on all cell phone use, or interacting with any gadgets while the wheels are rolling, rendering us all a bunch of androids in the driver’s seat.
The big question is what on-board electronic communications are exempt.
- It appears that drivers can still use laptop computers while the truck is moving.
- GPS navigation devices. Onboard maps and turn-by-turn directions are still okay, though it’s best to key in position and destination before embarking on a trip.
- GPS tracking devices. GPS tracking systems are safe because a driver doesn’t need a keyboard to let people know where he is and what he is doing. Vehicle tracking works without the driver’s participation in the solution. In fact, the driver doesn’t even have to know the GPS tracking system it there. Tracking systems are engineered to tell a dispatcher at home base what’s going on in their truck cabs.
- Satellite radio
- Two-way radios
- DVD players
- And while some will argue that there ought to be a law against it, there still is one major driver activity that is risky, in poor taste, but, really, completely legal: obscene hand gestures.
When will people learn?
Source: The Washington Post
Tags: Ban, Texting, Tracking, Trucker, vehicle
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February 2nd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I know that I’m guilty of texting and driving. But I’ve really made a better effort to stop. We’re not just regular cars, we’re giant moving objects that put so much at risk when we don’t pay attention. I think this is going to be a really good form of accountability for truck drivers.