What do Oprah, the Department of Transportation, the Auto Club, insurance companies and, state governors have in common?
The US Department of Transportation just presented a proposal to ban text messaging while driving by interstate truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on Transportation Department call to reduce distractions that cause accidents.
The plan would replace the temporary ban announced earlier in the year by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The planned ban applies to bus drivers and truck drivers operating vehicles weighing more than ten thousand pounds. To give an idea of the serious nature of the problem, violators could be facing civil penalities and/or even criminal penalties.
The United States Department of Transportation reported that 5,870 people were killed and about 515,000 were injured in 2008 in crashes connected to driver distraction. The department didn’t speculate how many of those accidents were linked to cell phone. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reflects the Transportation Department estimates with an estimate that around eighty percent of crashes are caused by driver distraction. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is funding research to determine the extent of the distracted driver issue. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that driver inattention is a leading factor in many accidents, and mobile phone calls and texting are leading causes of driver distractions.
State legislatures have responded to the growing outrage regarding mobile phone use and texting while driving by issuing a range of new laws, inclucing banning handheld mobile phone use or texting by all drivers or restricting cell phone use or texting for a specific demographic, such as teens or school bus drivers. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that currently 20 states and Washington DC restrict all drivers from sending text messages while behind the wheel. Another nine states prohibiting texting by beginner drivers. The remaining states are expected to implement the ban eventually. But it is also believed that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technology is neede. The GHSA says it supports texting bans for all drivers, but does have concerns about enforcement.
One source of a potential solution is Phone Beagle. PhoneBeagle is installed on Android and BlackBerry mobile phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other call log events.
The trucking and passenger bus industries support the text message prohibition, and many corporations have firm policies restricting sending text messages while driving. The government, industry and safety organizations all agree that driver distraction caused bysending text messages is a menace to society, and deserves action. Advocates for addressing the problem also include celebrity Oprah Winfrey.
The issue is a relatively new phenomenon. As navigation systems, cellphones and other mobile electronics have become ubiquitous in vehicles, safety advocates and the government have pushed for action to curb the problem.
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 phone log events.
