The US transport department has come up with the newly proposed safety regulation, according to which the usage of hand held cell phone is restricted while driving any freight truck on the interstate roads. This issue was raised while still considering the FMCSA 2010 CSA legislation. This step will help in decreasing the distracted driving by the commercial drivers.
The secretary of the United States Transportation Authority, Ray La Hood has showed his support for the rule and further stated that he is highly convinced by the issue of this safety regulation as it will surely work in making the US freeways a safer place to drive. With this regulation imposed the truck driver will not lose their concentration from operating the truck to operating the hand held cell phone. Therefore the country will account for lesser number of accidents and loss of both lives and the carriage of available loads.
This regulation by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will restrict the driver from the usage of cell phone while driving. With its commencement the FMCSA might impose the civil penalties for violating the law. The penalties may range up to $2,750 and the regular offenders will be disqualified form driving the vehicle. This will mean a new threat to owner operator jobs. The discussions are further on as to consider the law implications. It might be the case that the driver’s CDL will be suspended when found guilty of violating the law of cell phone usage by commercial truck drivers while driving their vehicle, after the second instance.
The imposition of the law is not only restricted to the drivers, however the trucking companies and fright carrier companies will be held liable for such violation by their truck drivers. The trucking companies might face a hefty penalty of maximum of $10,000 for each instance. The execution of this regulation would affect the businesses and driving practices of more than 4 million of the US freight truckers.
The cell phone usage while driving is considered as one of the primary causes of inattentive driving leading to safety hazards on the road. According to the Administrator of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Anne Ferro this primary cause will be considerably reduced with the implementation of this rule. Anne Ferro further said that FMCSA is working hard to provide road safety for commercial vehicle drivers. Studies suggest that just reaching to a cell phone makes it 3 times more likely for an accident to occur. The risk rises considerably to 600% if the driver is dialing a number through his handset. Industries major carrier companies have already banned the use of cell phones by their truck drivers to play safe. Earlier this year FMCSA has already issued a regulation to ban text messaging while driving trucks. Although FMCSA is busy with the issue of CSA 2010, however rapid steps are taken forth to put this regulation into action as well.
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