The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the federal agency that regulates the trucking industry, has issued new rules that strictly prohibit truck drivers from using hand-held cellular phones while driving.
According to research commissioned by the FMCSA, “the odds of being involved in a safety-critical event (e.g., crash, near-crash, unintentional lane deviation) are 23.2 times greater for CMV drivers who text while driving than those who do not.” The FMCSA continues to say that when texting drivers take their eyes off the road for about 4.6 seconds at 55 mph, it’s equivalent to traveling the length of a football field without looking at the road!
Texting is More Than Sending Messages
So, what counts as texting? If you thought it was just sending messages, it’s actually more than that. The FMCSA says the following counts as texting:
- Manually entering a text
- Reading a text message
- Instant messaging
- Commanding or accessing a web page
- Pressing more than one button to start or end a call
- Using a cellular phone
- Using any other electronic form of electronic text to send or retrieve a message
When Truckers Ignore the Ban on Texting
If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve seen truck drivers text behind the wheel of a semi-truck – some of us will see this almost daily if we look into trucker’s cabs while we’re on the roads and freeways. While the FMCSA has issued a nationwide ban against texting while driving for semi-truck drivers, the reality is that a lot of drivers break this policy every day, probably thousands of them.
Penalties for breaking the no texting ban may include:
- Driver disqualification for up to 120 days,
- Up to $2,750 in penalties for drivers, and
- Up to $11,000 in penalties for employers who authorize or require their drivers to use a handheld device so they can text while driving.
Related: Will My Personal Injury Case Go to Trial?
Were you or someone you love injured in a truck accident due to a truck driver who was breaking the law and texting while driving? If so, don’t hesitate to contact the Law Offices of James R. Snell, Jr., LLC for a free case evaluation.