Here’s a reminder: The U.S. Department of Transportation’s ban on interstate truck drivers using hand-held cellphones while behind the wheel became effective Jan. 1. The rule is the federal government’s latest volley in the battle against distracted driving, a huge danger.
In November, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled the ban, the final rule, regarding the use of cellphones. As The Beasley Report pointed out, the rule bars truck drivers from “holding, dialing or reaching for a hand-held cellphone.”
The rule has several particulars. First of all, it bans commercial drivers from using a handheld cellphone while operating a truck or bus. The rule also sets a $2,700 fine for each violation, as well as barring a driver from operating a commercial vehicle folowing multiple offenses.
Third, the rule calls for the suspension of a driver’s commercial license after two or more serious traffic violations. And fourth, it holds commercial truck and bus companie responsible for the actions of their employees, setting a maximum penalty of $11,000 for permitting drivers to use hand-held cellphones.
According to The Beasley Report, under the DOT rule a truck or bus driver is barred from reaching over to the passenger seat, under his or her own seat, or into their sleeper berth for a cellphone.
No one is quite sure how this new DOT rule will be enforced. But the genesis of the rule is well known: It was a multiple-fatality crash two years ago involving an Alabama truck driver in Georgia. That driver had made numerous calls on his cellphone just before he crashed over a median and hit a van. That van was carrying 12 family members. Ten of them, as well as the truck driver, were killed in the accident.