What do Oprah, the US Secretary of Transportation, the Auto Club, insurance companies and, state governors have in common?
The United States Department of Transportation just presented a proposal to outlaw text messaging while driving by cross-state truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on its call to lessen the number of distracted drivers that cause crashes.
The plan would replace an interim ban announced earlier in the 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 five tons. As an indication of the scope of the issue, the drivers could be facing civil penalities and/or even criminal penalties.
The United States Transportation Department reports that 5,870 people were killed and about 515,000 were injured in 2008 in crashes involving driver distraction. The department didn’t speculate how many of those accidents involved mobile device. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration echoes the Transportation Department statistics with projection that about eighty percent of crashes are caused by distracted drivers. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is sponsoring research to find out the extent of the distracted driver problem. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that driver inattention is a determining factor in many accidents, and cell phone use and sending text messages are leading causes of driver distractions.
State legislatures have responded to the growing outrage over mobile phone calls and sending text messages while driving by issuing a variety 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 Governors Highway Safety Association reports that currently 20 states plus Washington DC restrict drivers of all types of vehicles from sending text messages while behind the wheel. Another nine states prohibiting texting by novice drivers. The remaining states are expected to implement the ban eventually. But it is also widely recognized that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technology is required. The GHSA says it supports texting bans for all drivers, but has doubts about enforcement.
An interesting source of a potential solution is Phone Beagle. Their software installs on Android and BlackBerry mobile phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other phone log activity.
The trucking and passenger bus industries support the text message ban, and many companies have enforced policies against sending text messages while behind the wheel. The government, industry and safety organizations have found common ground that distracted drivers caused bytexting is a menace to society, and is worthy of action. Advocates for dealing with the problem also include media powerhouse Oprah.
The issue is a relatively new phenomenon. As navigation systems, mobile phones and other mobile electronics have become common in vehicles, safety advocates and the government have pushed for restrictions.
As legislation and technology work to to address the issues a software package from Phone Beagle is available to help deal with monitoring phone use. PhoneBeagle is installed on Android and BlackBerry smartphones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other call log events.
Tags: cell phones, distracted drivers, legislation, mobile, Oprah, Phone Beagle, regulations, text messaging
Continuity Disaster Recovery | admin | 
May 9, 2010 10:49 pm | 
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