The National Transportation Safety Board recently called for a ban on the use of cellular phones by professional truck drivers in an effort to curb serious truck accidents. In a recent 18-wheeler accident a semi truck driver's use of the cellular phone was cited as the probable cause of a truck accident that took 11 people's lives. The NTSB investigated the accident and has recommended that commercial truck drivers be precluded from cell phone use except in emergency situations.
In truth, banning cell phone use by drivers whether they are commercial truck drivers or soccer moms is a good idea for safety. The reason that professional truck drivers are single out is because of the potential of an 80,000-pound rig to do catastrophic damage to multiple people such as the accident investigated by the NTSB officials.
In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry recently vetoed House bill 242, which was widely supported in the Texas Legislature as a necessary measure to improve safety of Texas families. The bill would have banned texting while driving in Texas-a known and dangerous distractor and a major cause of serious injury accidents and wrongful death.
While the Gov.'s veto in our opinion was wrong, the government did support additional education on the dangers of texting while driving in Texas, even if there were no funds provided for such education. Texting while driving has been one of the growing dangers on Texas roadways mainly due to the rapid increase of cell phone use and mobile communications. Not only is it possible now to text anytime anywhere, but also video chats and other methods of communication on mobile devices have grown tenfold each and every year over the past several years.
Some experts have suggested that texting while driving can give up as much as 2 car lengths of safety and can be as dangerous as drunken-driving. Let us hope that the ban on commercial truck driver's use of cell phones while driving will be followed by a ban on texting while driving in Texas after Gov. Perry leaves office.
Greg Baumgartner is a Texas semi truck accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Truck Accident Law Firm call the Baumgartner firm.
