WASHINGTON — Just a week before Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood convenes a distracted driving summit, a safety group petitioned DOT to prohibit or restrict the use of “unsafe electronic devices, for talking, texting and other purposes, by operators of commercial motor vehicles including tractor-trailers, motorcoach buses, and large vans.”
The petition was filed by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (AHAS) Sept. 24 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to initiate a federal rule to curb electronic devices used while driving.
LaHood’s distracted driving summit begins Sept. 30 and runs through Oct. 1.
AHAS filed the petition for rulemaking with the FMCSA, calling on the agency to:
- Immediately open a rulemaking proceeding to determine the safety of electronic devices used by drivers operating a CMV
- Evaluate all wireless electronic devices used for telecommunications, telematics, entertainment and driver assistance (regardless of whether they are mobile or installed into the vehicle electronics platform) that can be used by drivers while operating a CMV
- Determine which devices interfere with the safe operation of CMVs
- Permit exceptions only in emergency situations, and exempt law enforcement and emergency responders who operate CMVs in the conduct of their official duties
- Make the violation of using a prohibited or restricted device while operating a CMV a safety violation that automatically triggers the issuance of an Out-of-Service (OOS) order
- Apply the rule to all CMV drivers under FMCSA jurisdiction, and
- Issue a rule to prohibit or restrict the use of devices that interfere with the safe operation of CMVs, and explain the conditions under which devices that are restricted can be used.
“Driver distraction is a serious and growing safety problem,” said AHAS Vice President Jacqueline Gillan. “If safety is indeed our nation’s number one transportation priority, now is the time for FMCSA to act to stem the rising tide of distracted driving crashes, deaths and injuries.”
Nearly 5,000 people are killed and 100,000 more are injured each year in crashes with large trucks, according to the AHAS news release. Trucks are only 3 percent of registered vehicles, but are involved in 12 percent of all traffic fatalities. Gillan cited a growing number of scientific studies that have repeatedly verified the serious, adverse impact on driver and passenger safety as a consequence of using one or more types of electronic devices.
Rose McMurray is acting administrator of FMCSA and will be at the distracted driving summit where she will moderate a portion of the event.
"If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting immediately," LaHood said recently regarding the dangerous combo of driving and texting. It is currently up to the states and 18 so far have banned texting while driving.
Barb Kampbell of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at barbkampbell@thetrucker.com.
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