Feds ban use of hand-held cell phones for commercial drivers

November 28, 2011 by Fred Hosier

Posted in: cell phones and safety, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views

The writing has been on the wall for a while, but now the federal government has made it official: Interstate truck and bus drivers can no longer use hand-held cell phones while driving.

U.S. Transportation Secretary announced the final rule on Wednesday, just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The joint rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) prohibits commercial drivers from using a hand-held cell phone while operating a commercial truck or bus.

Potential penalties for a violation of the new regulation include:

civil penalties of up to $2,750 for drivers for each offense
disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle for multiple offenses
suspension of a driver’s commercial driver’s license after two or more serious traffic violations
maximum penalty of $11,000 for commercial truck and bus companies that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving.

About four million commercial drivers will be affected by the rule.

FMCSA research shows using a hand-held cell phone requires a commercial driver to take several risky steps beyond what’s required for using a hands-free phone, including searching and reaching for the phone.

Commercial drivers reaching for an object are three times more likely to be involved in a crash. Dialing a hand-held phone makes it six times more likely that commercial drivers will be involved in a crash.

This isn’t the first step the federal government has taken in this area. In September 2010, FMCSA issued a regulation banning text messaging while operating a commercial truck or bus. PHMSA followed up with a similar rule in February 2011 for intrastate hazardous materials drivers.

More than 5,400 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2009.

Many large truck and bus companies, such as UPS, Wal-Mart, Peter Pan and Greyhound, already had policies banning their drivers from using hand-held phones.

Do you think state governments should follow up with bans on hand-held cell phones while driving for all drivers? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Tags: FMCSA, hand-held cell phone ban, hands-free cell phones, PHMSA, texting

2 Responses to “Feds ban use of hand-held cell phones for commercial drivers”

Paduke Says:
November 29th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Banning hand held phones is great but what about the laptop computers they are using while driving down the road? I’ve seen numerous drivers with laptops mounted like law enforcement typing while driving down the road. How is this different than a hand held phone? Oh it’s not hand held!!! DUH! Comercial drivers are paid to drive nothing else. 80,000lbs traveling down the road at 75 mph is 40 times more deadly than a 2,000 lb car traveling at the same speed. All their attention should be directed toward the task of driving not surfing the web.
Shaun Says:
November 30th, 2011 at 10:23 am
I don’t think the Government needs to ban anything. Taking away a freedom BEFORE the driver ever commits a crime is unconstitutional.
If the government needed to do something, it could allow for very heavy penalties if cell phone use was a factor in an ACTUAL accident.
The notion of taking away priveleges, freedoms, or rights BEFORE a crime has been committed or an accident has happened is how you raise children, not how you govern in a Republic. The old litmus test of “no victim, no crime” should be adhered to in all legislation. If a driver just uses a cell phone, there is no victim. If a driver has an accident in which a cell phone was a factor and he causes injury or damage to someone else, THEN it’s time to fine/punish him for doing so. Not before.

That mentality of banning otherwise innocuous activities is ridiculous - using Government Logic, then the #1 cause of ALL car accidents is the use of cars. If those benevolent geniuses would just take away all our cars, we’d all be safe from car accidents, right?