Washington – It is now illegal for any commercial driver, including truckers and bus drivers, to engage in text messaging while driving. The Transportation Department prohibition went into effect Tuesday.
In 2008, nearly 6,000 people died in accidents related to distracted drivers, and more than half-a-million were injured.
That caught the attention of the Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who says, “We’re going to set the highest bar possible. …Any distraction that takes two hands off the wheel and eyes off the windshield should not be allowed.”
The new policy targets commercial vehicles nationwide.
Drivers will face a fine of up to $2,750 dollars if they’re caught in the act.
The move is the latest in a series of actions by the Transportation Department to combat distracted driving.
(Source: CBS News)
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2 Responses
I have a pre-paid phone plan. I am only allowed two lines of text whenever I do text which is very infrequent. But, I receive texts from Yeshiva World. I wish I received a lot more from Yeshiva World.
Good luck with that. There is already such a ban in Phoenix, AZ. According to Phoenix Police Department records, 39 drivers had been cited as of Nov. 15, an average of 1.5 tickets per month, even though a recent national AAA poll found about 20 percent of drivers admitted to text messaging or reading and sending e-mail behind the wheel.