• 19
  • September
    2011

Driving in Miami can be dangerous. Even if you do everything possible to drive safely, a distracted driver could cause a serious accident and injure or kill you. Distracted driving, especially cellphone use, is a serious problem across Florida and the United States. In an effort to curb distracted driving by truckers, the National Transportation Safety Board has recently asked the government to ban cellphone use by anyone driving a truck.

Semi trucks and tractor trailers are extremely dangerous, even under the safest of conditions. The smallest mishap could cause a horrific trucking accident and the risk of danger greatly increases when the driver is busy checking his or her cellphone. In an accident last year, a truck driver killed himself and ten others in a single accident. The driver had been using his phone extensively in the 24 hours leading up to the accident and in the minute before he collided with the van, he made four calls.

As the driver was on his fourth call, he veered across the median. While there were highway barriers erected, the semi easily crashed through them and ended up in oncoming traffic. Once on the opposite side of the highway, he smashed into a van of 12 people. Ten of those people died, as well as the truck driver. It was this tragic accident that spurred the Safety Board's recommendation for a cellphone ban.

The ban looks promising and transportation regulators have already suggested their own hand-held cellphone ban. Additionally, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been a strong advocate against distracted driving. Last year he pushed through a ban on texting while driving for all truckers. Unfortunately, trucking groups have expressed opposition to a complete cellphone ban, saying that hands-free devices will not distract drivers.

Source: Reuters, "U.S. safety board pushes for trucker cellphone ban," Sept. 13, 2011