No more texting for commercial truck drivers
On January 1st, Illinois joined several other states banning texting while driving. The law bascially bans drivers from any type of web-surfing while driving including reading emaiils and updating social networking on sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
It appears that other laws may be down the pipeline. Technology that uses the internet is the newest target for lawmakers who want to ban the use of hand held and in vehicle technology because of its contribution to the problem of distracted driving.
Recent studies have indicated that drivers of large commercial vehicles become even more dangerous when they are allowed to use handheld devices or computers in the cab of their vehicles. Automobile drivers have reason to worry.
In 2009, the president signed an executive order prohibiting federal workers from texting while operating a vehicle owned by the government. Last month, the Transportation Department banned bus and truck operators (anyone driving a commercial vehicle weighing in excess of 10,000lbs.) from doing the same. Those drivers caught texting can face civil or criminal penalties and fines over $2,500.
The Transportation Department reportedly is developing regulations that would prohibit commercial truck drivers from using cell phones while they are driving and banning the use of in-vehicle compueters that they may use to stay in contact with their dispatchers.
A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that the risk of an accident by a distracted truck driver is 5.9 times greater as compared to a car dirver whose risk is 2.8 times greater. A truck driver's risk of an accidents increases to 6.7 times higher when they are reaching for something as opposed to a driver who's risk is 1.4 times higher.
Additionally, of the crashes involving commercial vehicles on US roadways, over 70% involved the driver being distracted. In 2007, over 400,000 large trucks were involved in accidents which resulted in almost 5000 deaths. Lawmakers are resisting the implementation of other, more distracting techonology by truck drivers.
There are three categories of distracted driving
Manual: When the driver takes one or obth hands of the wheel
Visual: When a driver takes their eyes off the road and;
Cognitive: When a driver takes their mind off the task of driving and what is happening on the road.
Using a hand-held device or in-vehicle computer distracts the driver in all three categories. In a recent study by Carnegie Mellon, using a cell phone reduces the activity the brain needs to drive by 37 percent.
