• 15
  • April
    2011

New legislation proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FCMSA) that would ban mobile phones for commercial truck drivers has garnered support from an unlikely place - the drivers themselves. The American Trucking Association (ATA) has given its support to the proposed regulations with one caveat - it does not support banning the use of non-emergency hands-free phoning while behind the wheel.

The ATA certainly recognizes the importance of not having commercial vehicle drivers distracted by hand-held mobile phones behind the wheel, so they wholeheartedly support that portion of the ban, as well as current regulations banning the use of text messaging phones and e-mail while operating a vehicle. Their concern with the legislation is that it goes too far by:

  • Banning drivers from initiating or carrying-on non-emergency conversations behind the wheel even if they are using a hands-free mobile device
  • Preventing drivers from reaching for a hand-held or hands-free mobile device while the vehicle is in motion

ATA spokesman and president Jim Johnston states that legislation banning the use of even hands-free mobile devices behind the wheel - as well as prohibitions banning even reaching for mobile devices while operating the vehicle - is illogical given the fact that drivers are legally able to use CB radios and mp3 music players. He also argues the role that commercial driver distraction has in motor vehicle accident, citing recent research performed at the Transportation Institute at Virginia Tech which found that merely talking on a mobile phone does not significantly increase the risk of a crash.