Intexticated Drivers

Over the course of the past several decades, technology has done a great deal to advance safety within the trucking industry. Air-bags, antilock brakes, and a host of other technological advancements have no doubt contributed to making the trucking industry safer. And as new technological innovations continue to enter the market and become more main-stream, we can expect trucking to become an even safer profession. However some technology has had the exact opposite impact upon the trucking industry.

 

Blackberrys, iPhones, and their counterparts are now commonplace. In fact, you will be hard-pressed to find a new cell phone without the capability to text and surf the Internet. Whereas texting was once popular only with teens, it is taking over as a fairly common means of communicating by many – including many truck drivers. Add to that thousands of available cell phone “apps” designed to entertain the user and it is easy to see how these gadgets, if used while driving, can have a dramatically negative impact upon driver safety. Now add Netbooks to the mix. These pint-size laptops have much of the same functionality as home computers, but are ready to connect to the Internet via a cell signal virtually anywhere. Safety directors are naïve if they think that these devices are not impacting employee job safety in a seriously negative way.

 

Of course truck drivers are professionals and do not engage in dangerous tasks while behind the wheel, right? Wrong. Truck drivers are human and occasionally do ill-advised things endanger themselves and others. We all do. On October 21^st a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Minneapolis overshot its destination by 150 miles because the pilots (highly trained professionals) were paying more attention to working out crew schedules on their laptops than they were to flying the plane. Whereas those pilots made national headlines, professional truck drivers who text, surf or play with their cell-phone applications while driving present an even greater risk to themselves and others. After all, if a driver is traveling 55 mph and looks down to text for six seconds, he will have traveled the entire length of a football field – which is plenty of time to drift out of his lane without realizing it.

 

Earlier this year Federal legislation was introduced aimed at banning texting while operating a vehicle. The proposed legislation is named “Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers Act of 2009.” Under the measure, states would have two years to outlaw the sending of text and e-mail messages by drivers or lose 25 percent of their Federal highway money. Of course, several states have already enacted bans on cell phone texting while driving.

 

But it takes more than laws to change behaviors. Ban texting while driving. Routinely talk with your drivers about the hazards of using any handheld electronic gadget while driving. Get personal. Ask them if they text or have a handheld device with Internet connectivity. Talk to them about when they use it. Ask them to sign a pledge not to use these devises while driving. Do anything except ignore the problem.

 

 

CELL PHONE TASK IN HEAVY VEHICLE/TRUCKS	Risk of Crash or Near Crash event
Dialing Cell phone	5.9 times as high as non‐distracted driving
Talking/Listening to Cell Phone	1.0 times as high as non‐distracted driving
Use/Reach for electronic device	6.7 times as high as non‐distracted driving
Text messaging	23.2 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Press Release, “New Data from VTTI Provides Insight into Cell Phone Use and Driving Distraction,” July 27, 2009