Cellphone Ban Bus/Truck Drivers

[jackhartjr]

Hank, this administration is has all kinds of plans to take away things...it's the way they think.  This ray lahood guy has gone nuts with his policies and policies to come.  He got the texting ban on truck and bus drivers done so fast...I feel that just got his chops salivating!

Not trying to make this a political rant...just stating facts as I see them!

[jjrbus]

Illusory superiority is a cognitive bias  that causes people to overestimate their positive qualities and abilities and to underestimate their negative qualities, relative to others. This is evident in a variety of areas including intelligence, performance on tasks or tests and the possession of desirable characteristics or personality traits. It is one of many positive illusions relating to the self, and is a phenomenon studied in social psychology.

Illusory superiority is often referred to as the above average effect. Other terms include superiority bias, leniency error, sense of relative superiority, the primus inter pares (first among equals) effect,[1] and the Lake Wobegon effect (named after Garrison Keillor's fictional town where "all the children are above average"). The phrase "illusory superiority" was first used by Van Yperen and Buunk in 1991.[1]

[kyle4501]

I KNOW my driving skills are lacking. Perhaps that is why I try harder to pay attention to what is most important when distractions occur.

[Nusa]

Leave it to the media to delete a KEY phrase in their reporting. Sure, it makes a bigger news story when they make it sound like an absolute ban, but it is also lying by omission.

The proposed rule is aimed at HAND-HELD cell phones, which a number of states already ban anyway. (List of current state laws: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html). I expect most interstate drivers already have hands-free devices, assuming their company lets them be used at all.

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/about/news/news-releases/2010/Rule-to-Ban-Hand-Held-Cell-Phone.aspx
FMCSA 21-10
Friday, December 17, 2010
Contact: Candice Tolliver
Tel: 202-366-9999 or 202-306-4580

U.S. DOT Proposes Rule to Ban Hand-Held Cell Phone Use for Commercial Truck and Bus Drivers

WASHINGTON - As part of its campaign to put an end to the practice of distracted driving, the U.S. Department of Transportation today proposed a new safety regulation that would specifically prohibit interstate commercial truck and bus drivers from using hand-held cell phones while operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV).

"Every time a commercial truck or bus driver takes his or her eyes off the road to use a cell phone, even for a few seconds, the driver places everyone around them at risk," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "This proposed rule will go a long way toward keeping a driver's full attention focused on the road."

The proposed Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule would prohibit commercial drivers from reaching for, holding or dialing a cell phone while operating a CMV. Drivers who violate these restrictions would face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and disqualification of their commercial driver's license (CDL) for multiple offenses. Additionally, states would suspend a driver's CDL after two or more violations of any state law on hand-held cell phone use.

Motor carriers that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving would face a maximum penalty of $11,000. Approximately four million interstate commercial drivers would be affected by this proposal.

"We are committed to using every resource at our disposal to ensure commercial drivers and vehicles are operating safely at all times," said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. "Implementation of this proposal would help make our roads safer and target a leading cause of distracted driving."

FMCSA research shows that using a hand-held cell phone while driving requires a commercial driver to take several risky steps. In particular, commercial drivers reaching for an object, such as a cell phone, while driving are three times more likely to be involved in a crash or other safety-critical event. Drivers dialing a hand-held cell phone while driving increase their risk by six times. Many of the largest carriers, such as UPS, Covenant Transport, and Wal-Mart, already have company policies in place banning their drivers from using hand-held phones. In September 2010, FMCSA issued a regulation banning text messaging while operating a commercial motor vehicle.

Nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2009. Distraction-related fatalities represented 16 percent of overall traffic fatalities in 2009, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research.

FMCSA is providing 60 days for the public to comment on this rulemaking. The comment period begins once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. The proposal and information about how to submit comments is here.

To learn more about the U.S. Department of Transportation's efforts to stop distracted driving, please visit http://www.distraction.gov.

If you want to read the actual proposal in mind-numbing detail, it's 20 pages of the Federal Register dated yesterday: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/rulemakings/proposed/Mobile_phone_NPRM.pdf.

[pabusnut]

I agree with the hand-held cellphone ban. 
A couple of days ago I sat through a normally very long wait traffic light three times because the WOMAN first in line waited and talked on her cellphone while the light was green not one,  but TWO TIMES until I honked the horn.  She then proceded to accelerate through the light as it turned RED---and I got to sit through it a third time.

The people who are the problem are the ones who probably shouldn't be on the road in the first place.  I understand that sometimes people need to talk on the phone while driving.  BUT everyone who doesn't NEED to should probably not.  I normally answer on speakerphone, tell the caller I am driving, and can I call them back when I get to a safe place to pull over.  Normally it is not something that important that it can't wait for a while.  We think because we can talk and drive --we should!  And we think it is our right -- since there is no law against it.

Drivers who command vehicles that are heavy and or transport people have additional responsibility, and should be the examples of expert driving, and should be held to a higher level of accountability. 



Just because something is legal for us to do --that does not mean it is beneficial to us or others.

Just my 1/2 cent worth

Steve Toomey
pabusnut

[belfert]

Leave it to the media to delete a KEY phrase in their reporting. Sure, it makes a bigger news story when they make it sound like an absolute ban, but it is also lying by omission.

The proposed rule is aimed at HAND-HELD cell phones, which a number of states already ban anyway. (List of current state laws: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html). I expect most interstate drivers already have hands-free devices, assuming their company lets them be used at all.

There are still plenty of folks who want cell phone use by ALL drivers prohibited period.

I skimmed through the 20 pages about the new rules and came away more confused than when I started.  They really need a short summary for those of who are not lawmakers or lawyers.

[Oonrahnjay]

There are still plenty of folks who want cell phone use by ALL drivers prohibited period.

    And having seen some wild antics on the road, I can understand their feelings.  But a law would make rolling down I-40 alone in your own car in eastern New Mexico with no car within a half a mile of you the same as a bus driver getting onto the George Washington bridge from New Jersey at rush hour with 47 passengers on board.  In my opinion, not the way to go (but that's just my opinion ...)

BH NC USA

[Len Silva]

There are still plenty of folks who want cell phone use by ALL drivers prohibited period.

    And having seen some wild antics on the road, I can understand their feelings.  But a law would make rolling down I-40 alone in your own car in eastern New Mexico with no car within a half a mile of you the same as a bus driver getting onto the George Washington bridge from New Jersey at rush hour with 47 passengers on board.  In my opinion, not the way to go (but that's just my opinion ...)

BH NC USA

True, but if you agree that some cellphone restriction is necessary, how could you write the rules for all conditions with making it a thousand pages of gibberish.

You have to trust that the law enforcement officer is going to make that judgment.  Sure, some will abuse it, but the vast majority will use common sense.

[Gary '79 5C]

Very well said, Len.

You can not legislate common sense.

[kyle4501]

Very well said, Len.

You can not legislate common sense.

Maybe not, but the gubbermint seems to act as that is their job.

They should go after the cause, not the symptom. There were traffic fatalities long before cell phones.
The problem being created by these 'safety' laws is that idiots modify their behaviour to keep the danger at a given level.
Studies showed that when people knew the car had anti-lock brakes, they shortened the safe following distance. With airbags, they drove faster. . . . .

Mandated safety features often bring a sense of complacency & sometimes contempt for the inherent danger of the activity.

[Eagle]

This is what can and has happened when talking on a cell phone.  11 ELEVEN people lost their lives including the truck driver in this accident.  We think these things don't happen to us but they do and will.  Do a Google search and read some of the reports from the medical journals about using a cell phone while driving.


I-65 tragedy

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the March 26 accident in which a tractor-trailer owned by Hester crossed the median on Interstate 65, colliding with a van carrying a Mennonite family and friends to a wedding.
The board isn't expected to release a report on the crashes cause until next year.
But a Kentucky State Police report found that the truck driver, Kenneth E. Laymon, was distracted and didn't have his tractor-trailer under control. The report said Laymon, who died in the crash, was talking on a cell phone and may have been speeding.

[eddiepotts]

It is a tragedy. Please, people that can't talk on the phone and remember what they are doing DON'T TALK ON IT! I don't believe it was the phone call that caused him to cross a median and never know it. He may have been looking at paperwork or in a glovebox. Think about it, who looses all controle and brain function when on the phone. if you can't talk on the phone and walk at the same time without stepping off the sidewalk, you may should leave your phone at home when you drive. It should not mean I have to also. I think it the phone is just something to blame it on to help the cause of the imposed laws. I could come up with all kinds of accident out there because drivers fall asleep. Maybe we should go back to horses because of that. In stead of scales to stop at maybe it should be government ran hotels where they give you a pill and make you sleep for a couple of hours before you get to the next stop. This way we can insure no sleepy drivers out there too. Do you know when to not drive because you to tired to do it? Well some don't. It happens. What right do you want to give up to fix that problem. Oh wait, It's a privilege. We have no rights.

[kyle4501]

What did they blame the bad wrecks & fatalities before cell phones came out?

I wonder why more blame isn't placed where it really belongs - on the loose nut behind the wheel?

[Len Silva]

Every regulation that exists is because somebody died.  Actually, it was probably a lot of people who died before anyone started thinking about regulating any particular behavior.

I have no doubt at all that YOU can safely drive and talk on the phone at the same time.  Actually, you could probably talk on the phone while downshifting going around a corner and lighting a cigarette at the same time.

The problem is that not everyone can do that, and because they can't, people die.

The same thing applies to other regulations that take away your freedoms.  Thirty or forty years ago, I knew truckers who bragged about New York to L.A., non stop.  Some of them died and some of them killed other people.  Now we have Hours of Service regulations.  If no one had ever been killed, there would be no such regulations.

Believe it or not, it is not the President sitting in the White House thinking "I'm going to screw with some truck drivers today".

[Melbo]

ALL of the laws that are passed are to protect people --- usually based on one DUMB SHI T and his lawyer -- the DUMB S thinks it's your fault and the lawyer wants the money

So now our country is under the control of one dumb s and his lawyer and our Fing  or excuse me I mean FINE congress people think they are doing someone a favor --- they probably are but it is not you nor I

YMMV

HTH

Melbo