What do Oprah, the US Secretary of Transportation, the Triple A, insurance companies and, state and federal legislators have in common?
The US Department of Transportation just proposed to forbid text messaging at the wheel by cross-state truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on its public service program to mitigate distracted drivers that cause accidents.
The plan would make permanent the temporary ban put in place at the beginning of the calendar year by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The planned ban applies to drivers of passenger buses and commercial trucks operating vehicles with a gross vehicle weight over ten thousand pounds. As an indication of the scope of the issue, violators could face civil penalities and/or even criminal penalties.
The United States Transportation Department reported that 5,870 people were killed and about 515,000 were injured in 2008 in crashes connected to driver distraction. They didn’t speculate how many of those accidents were linked to an electronic device. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reflects the Transportation Department statistics with an estimate that around eighty percent of crashes are caused by driver distraction. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is sponsoring research to determine the extent of the distracted driver problem. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) states that driver inattention is a leading factor in many crashes, and mobile phone use and sending text messages are some of the most common driver distractions.
State legislatures have responded to the growing concern regarding cell phone use and sending text messages while driving by issuing a range of new laws, inclucing banning handheld cell phone use or texting by all drivers or restricting cell phone use or sending text messages for a specific demographic, such as teens or school bus drivers. The GHSA reports that currently 20 states and the District of Columbia outlaw drivers of all types of vehicles from sending text messages when driving. An additional nine states restricting texting by beginning drivers. The remaining states are expected to implement the ban eventually. However it is also believed that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technical solutions are neede. The Governors Highway Safety Association says it supports texting bans for all drivers, but has doubts about enforcement.
A leading source of a potential solution is Phone Beagle. PhoneBeagle installs on Android and BlackBerry mobile phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other call log activity.
The trucking and passenger bus industries support the texting prohibition, and many companies have firm policies restricting texting while driving. The government, industry and safety organizations all agree that driver distraction caused bytexting is extremely dangerous, and is worthy of action. Advocates for addressing the problem also include media powerhouse Oprah.
Without question there are numerous distractions interfering with a driver focusing on driving: changing the radio or a finding a tape or CD, talking to passengers, observing an event outside the vehicle, and of course, using cell phones and sending text messages. Navigational and other interactive devices also distract drivers.
As legislation and technology develop to address the problems a software package from Phone Beagle is available to help deal with monitoring phone use. PhoneBeagle is installed on Android and BlackBerry mobile phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other phone log events.
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Tags: cell phones, distracted drivers, legislation, mobile, Oprah, Phone Beagle, regulations, text messaging
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