• 14
  • October
    2011

In the wake of several horrible accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that all 50 states and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ban truckers and other commercial drivers from using cell phones while operating vehicles, including hands-free devices.

NTSB is a federal agency charged with investigating highway accidents and promoting highway safety, but it cannot create law and it does not have the power to change current laws. The NTSB gathers information on highway safety and recommends safety enhancements to the federal government and to state legislatures.

NTSB's proposal encourages states and the FMCSA to ban cell phone use for trucks and all other commercial drivers. This ban would include the use of hands-free devices, texting and other cell phone messaging functions. NTSB's proposal comes in the wake of a major investigation it completed into a multiple-fatality trucking crash in which a trucker was using his cell phone when he caused the deadly truck accident.

Eleven Killed in Deadly Kentucky Trucking Accident

The truck crash in Kentucky involved 45-year-old trucker Kenneth Laymon, an Alabama native, and a wedding party of 12 people traveling in a van.

After investigating the truck accident scene, the NTSB concluded that Laymon had been on the cell phone and lost control of his truck at the time of the truck accident. He made the mistake of slamming on his brakes instead of steering out of the median. Laymon's truck crossed into oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway and smashed head-on into the wedding party's van. Laymon and 10 people in the van were killed. Two young children strapped in safety seats were the only survivors of the trucking accident.

According to investigators, Laymon was distracted by his cell phone and this was the main cause of the crash. The report did site fatigue and road conditions as contributing factors as well.

The American Trucking Association says that it supports a texting and cell phone ban. But a spokeman for ATA said the group "takes no position" for hand-held devices as studies have not shown a decrease in truck accidents in states that have enacted bans on hands-free devices.

Source: NTSB wants complete ban on cell phone use for truckers and other commercial drivers, Syracuse.com, 9/14/11