What do Oprah, the Department of Transportation, the Triple A, insurance companies and, state and federal legislators have in common?
The United States Transportation Department just proposed to ban text messaging while driving by interstate truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on its call to lessen the number of distracted drivers that lead to accidents.
The proposal would make permanent an interim ban announced in January 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, the drivers could be facing civil penalities and/or even criminal charges.
The United States Transportation Department reports almost 6,000 people died and about 515,000 were injured in 2008 in crashes involving distracted drivers. They has not determined how many of those deaths and injuries were linked to mobile phone. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration echoes the Transportation Department estimates with an estimate that around eighty percent of accidents are caused by distracted drivers. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is sponsoring research to find out the extent of the distraction issue. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that driver inattention is a determining factor in many crashes, and cell phone calls and texting are leading causes of driver distractions.
State legislators aren’t waiting for research reports and are passing new laws dealing with mobile phone calls and texting . The GHSA reports that currently 20 states and Washington DC restrict drivers of all types of vehicles from sending text messages while driving. An additional nine states restricting texting by beginning drivers. Most states are expected to implement the ban before too long. However it is also believed that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technical solutions are required. The GHSA purports to say it supports texting bans for all drivers, but does have concerns about enforcement.
A leading 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 events.
The trucking and passenger bus trade associations support the texting prohibition, and many companies have explicit policies prohibiting texting when behind the wheel. The government, industry and safety organizations all agree that driver distraction 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, cellphones and other mobile electronics have become common in vehicles, safety advocates and the government have pushed for action to curb the problem.
As legislation and technology work to to solve the problems a software package from Phone Beagle is available to help deal with monitoring phone use. Their software is installed on Android and BlackBerry cell phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other phone log activity.