Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Transportation to prohibit or restrict the use of unsafe electronic devices, for talking, texting and other purposes, by operators of commercial motor vehicles, such as tractor trailers, motorcoach buses, and large vans.
There have been many tragedies caused by cell phone use by commercial vehicles such as the one experienced by Elissa and Jamie Schee of Ocala, Florida, whose daughter Frances "Margay" Schee, age 13, was killed on September, 23, 2008, when a tractor trailer rammed into the back of her school bus that was stopped with its lights flashing. The truck driver's cell phone use was a contributing factor in the fiery fatal crash.
"One year and one day later, we want to express our strong support for this safety petition that is asking our federal government to finally do something to keep commercial vehicle drivers off the phone and to stay focused on the road in front of them," said Elissa Schee.
"What happened to our daughter Margay was not an isolated incident. These tragedies are increasingly occurring on our nation's roadways - and they are preventable."
In the petition is a video of bus driver texting while driving and then the bus crashes into a car in front of it.
It turns out it was VIA driver driving down Loop 410 in rush hour traffic in San Antonio Texas. The bus rammed right into an SUV being driven by Betty Jo Hummel.
"It was horrible," said Hummel. "It was the most horrific thing I've probably ever lived through." News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters showed the video to her. She was surprised the accident last June didn't kill her.
Advocates filed the petition for rulemaking with the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), calling on the agency to
immediately open a rulemaking proceeding to determine the safety of
electronic devices used by drivers operating a CMV and restrict use.
Trucks are only 3 percent of registered vehicles, but are involved in
12 percent of all traffic fatalities.
Gillan cited a growing number of scientific studies that have
repeatedly verified the serious, adverse impact on driver and passenger
safety as a consequence of using one or more types of electronic
devices.
For example, a Virginia Tech study issued this year, which
was the first to investigate the effects on crash risk of reading and
sending text messages, found that texting increased the risk of a
safety-critical driving event for truck drivers by 23.2 times.
In
July of this year, the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority
in the District of Columbia (DC) issued a zero-tolerance policy for
Metro bus and rail operators using mobile devices while on the job.
One
year ago the Federal Railroad Administration issued an Emergency Order
restricting the use electronic devices by railroad employees after a
commuter/freight train head-on collision.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, at any given moment 11 percent of all motorists are
using cell phones while driving, and 25 percent of all police-reported
crashes may involve distracted driving.