The National Transportation Safety Board ("NTSB") recently proposed a ban aimed at preventing commercial truck and bus drivers from texting and making or accepting cell phone calls. The ban was proposed due to the result of a hearing in Washington where it was ruled that a truck accident in Kentucky that killed 11 people in 2010 was caused by a fatigued truck driver using his cell phone. We related some of the details of that tragic occurrence in our immediately preceding blog post.

Although NTSB officials have proposed similar bans on cell phone use by truck drivers in the past, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman says that the current recommendation is the agency's most comprehensive to date. Further, the United States Department of Transportation has already implemented a rule that bars commercial truck drivers from using hand-held phones.

The American Trucking Association ("ATA"), a major industry lobbying organization, supports the efforts to ban hand-held devices as well as texting, but ATA officials argue that hands-free devices have not been proven to pose the same risks. It is reported that the trucking industry as a whole is supportive of a ban, but that there are differing views as to which devices should be included.

As it stands, 34 states have issued bans on all drivers as regards texting, including Kentucky. Because it is powerless to issue the ban, the NTSB has sent its current recommendation to ban texting and cell phone use to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for further consideration.

Related Resource: Fox News, "Ban Recommended on Trucker Cell Use and Texting" Sept. 14, 2011