HISTORY

Fifteen to twenty years ago, no one had cell phones except doctors and drug dealers; 10 years ago nearly everyone above the age of 13 had a cell phone, but you wouldn’t talk on it too much, because the per-minute charges would bankrupt you. In the last 5 years, unlimited usage plans have become the norm, and it seems as if every other car on the road has a driver who has a cell phone plastered to his/her face nearly all the time. And you know those people aren’t paying attention to their driving.

Not too long ago, the DOT banned texting while operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV). This is a good rule, and it happened because there were a number of highly-publicized, fatal crashes caused when drivers were sending and receiving text messages when they should have been giving their full attention to operating the CMVs they were being paid to drive.

And effective this past January, the DOT also banned talking on a hand-held cell phone while operating a CMV. This is a good rule, too. Many cities and states have passed rules about talking while driving, because all the research indicates it does not matter if you use a hands-free device or not, your focus needs to be on driving. A person who is talking on a cell phone is just as dangerous as a driver with .08 BAC (also known as legally drunk). The DOT knows this and has instituted a ban on any and all cell phone use without a hands-free device.

There has been growing concern about all sorts of things you might do when driving a truck; from talking on a CB or business-band radio or changing 8-track tapes (or CDs, or MP3 players) to making a sandwich while driving. Even driving while angry or upset affects your ability to avoid or at least reduce the severity of a crash. It’s not new; the DOT has been responding to public outcry for decades.

So the problem of distracted driving is bigger than cell phones, but the big push in 2012 is to change the behavior of CMV drivers and others – cell phones should not be used while we are driving, because they split your attention between driving and something else – and that can get you killed, result in someone else’s premature death, or both. The reason the DOT and the National Safety Council (NCS) is (and you) should be particularly concerned about cell phones right now, is because it’s the single biggest problem leading to traffic fatalities today.