The National Transportation Safety Board is coming down hard on the use of portable electronic devices while driving—one of the most prevalent and dangerous forms of distracted driving. Just earlier this month, the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration announced that—partially in response to NTSB urging—a new rule that bans hand-held phone use for commercial drivers was going into effect. Now the NTSB is coming down even harder on the rest of the drivers on the road, asking for a complete ban of all portable electronic devices while driving.
Specifically, the NTSB calls on all 50 states and the District of Columbia to:
- Ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices for all drivers, with the exception of those used to support driving
- Use high visibility enforcement to support these bans; and
- Implement targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and enforcement and to warn them of the dangers associated with the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices while driving.
If the states take heed of the NTSB’s request, it could be a significant step forward towards eliminating this form of distracted driving. Currently, state laws are all over the place when it comes to legislating against the use of electronic devices, ranging from no bans at all to limited bans on activities like texting or use of hand-held devices but not hands-free devices to complete bans for certain types of drivers—like we see with the new rules for commercial drivers. But almost no states have implemented a ban as broad and all-encompassing as what the NTSB is calling for.
It seems to be that there are two interesting innovations in what the NTSB is calling for. First, the ban is universal to all electronic devices, recognizing the driver distraction today doesn’t just come from cell phones but from all sorts of devices: e-readers, iPads, and portable DVD players to name a few. Second, the ban is universal to all types of uses. Just like distraction isn’t limited to the type of device, it is also not limited to just texting or talking on the phone. All sorts of activities—surfing the Internet, scrolling through music options or checking that Twitter account—count as distracted driving.
The ball is in the states’ courts now—it will be up to them to pass the necessary legislation and enforce it while engaging in serious educational campaigns to change driver behavior. But it certainly helps that the NTSB is bring national attention to this issue and pressuring states to act.
A partner with Inserra & Kelley, Attorneys At Law since 1993, Craig Kelley focuses on personal injury law with a large emphasis on motorcycle and bicycle related cases and claims with the goal of first helping clients heal and then getting speedy resolution of their disputes.
3 Comments
zadoc
I am fully opposed to any law banning cell phones while driving. First of all, they are no more dangerous than talking to a passenger. Second, far more dangerous things like using the radio, changing CDs, smoking, and eating are legal. Third, a cell phone is so much more than a phone. It's a GPS device, it's a radio, it's a compass, and so on.
POLL: Should talking on a cell phone while driving be illegal?
Vote: http://www.wepolls.com/p/6408758
Cindy
ALL devices are potentially dangerous, however, pull over or stop somewhere to use them. It only takes one person to injure or kill many others!!!!!!!!
Gary
This is simply another tactic by the government to take control of our lives. People need to be responsible for themselves, or our Nanny State will be responsible for them. Washington state, where I reside, does not allow use of cell phones unless they are hands free, yet I see them all the time being used without hands free devices. I always use Bluetooth headsets that only cover one ear so I can drive, concentrate on the road, and still hear emergency vehicles. I've had closer calls in an accident sense simply by having people in the car and talking to them than I do having a cell phone or media player in the car.
No, I do not condone texting or surfing the net on your phone or iPad while you're driving, it's insane to do that. But, the government has no right to attempt to control my life by stipulating laws that will deny me the use of legal equipment I have purchased. Maybe, instead, they should provide me with a government paid chauffeur? That way, I can talk or text or surf all I want.
Insofar as I am concerned, this is another attempt by a leftist administration to move me closer to a socialist state that controls all aspects of my life. Too Orwellian for my tastes.
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