Distracted Drivers

The US Transportation Department recently presented a proposal to forbid text messaging at the wheel by cross-state truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on Department of Transportation call to mitigate distracted drivers that cause crashes. The plan would replace the temporary ban put in place in January by the Transportation Secretary. The planned ban applies to drivers of passenger buses and commercial trucks operating vehicles with a gross vehicle weight over five tons. To give an idea of the serious nature of the problem, the drivers could face civil penalties and/or even criminal penalties. The United States Department of Transportation reports that 5,870 people were killed and over a half million were injured in 2008 in crashes involving driver distraction. The department has not determined how many of those accidents involved mobile device. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration echoes the Transportation Department estimates with an estimate that about eighty percent of crashes are caused by distracted drivers. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is sponsoring research to determine the extent of the distraction issue. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that driver inattention is a determining factor in many crashes, and cell phone calls and sending text messages are some of the most common driver distractions. State legislators aren’t waiting for research reports and are enacting new regulations dealing with cell phone calls and texting . The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that twenty states and the District of Columbia ban all drivers from texting while driving. Another nine states against texting by novice drivers. The remaining states are expected to implement the ban before too long. However it is also widely recognized that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technology is neede. The Governors Highway Safety Association purports to say it supports texting bans for all drivers, but has doubts about enforcement. The trucking and passenger bus industries support the text message prohibition, and many companies have explicit policies prohibiting texting while behind the wheel. The government, industry and safety organizations all agree that driver distraction caused bytexting is a menace to society, and deserves action. Advocates for dealing with the problem also include media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey. Undoubtedly there are many distractions which may prevent a driver focusing on driving: fiddling with the radio or a inserting tape or CD, talking to passengers, observing an event outside the vehicle, and of course, using mobile phones and sending text messages. Navigational and other interactive devices also cause inattention.