United States D.O.T. Bans Texting by Commercial Truck Drivers
As many of our blogs have discussed recently, texting while driving is becoming an increasing source of negligence-based accidents on America’s roadways. Recognizing that such activity has become a problem nationwide, the United States Department of Transportation issued a press release today stating that texting while driving is banned nationwide for drivers of commercial vehicles, which includes vehicles such as tractor-trailers, trolleys, and buses. While many states already had some form of this ban, this ban covers commercial vehicles nationwide, and is part of a concentrated effort by the U.S.D.O.T. to combat distracted driving according to the press release.
The press release notes that drivers who text while driving take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, meaning that at a speed of 55 miles per hour they travel more than the length of a football field without looking at the road. The press release also notes that more regulations are likely forthcoming in this area.
This regulation may also be of some significance to victims of accidents caused by drivers of commercial vehicles that choose to text while driving. Now that drivers are legally obligated not to text while driving, they can receive citations and fines that can make it all the easier to prove they were engaging in such conduct at or near the time the accident occurred. It will also be easier for victims to potentially demonstrate in a personal injury trial that the driver of the commercial vehicle was reckless in engaging in such conduct since he or she knew that texting while driving was federally banned because of the danger it poses to other drivers and engaged in such conduct anyway.
Reckless conduct is key in personal injury trials in Tennessee, because it can lead to a punitive damages award for the victims, one which can also be assessed against the company that owns the commercial vehicle depending on the circumstances (for example, if a driver had received multiple fines or citations for texting while driving and the company continued to allow them to drive one of its vehicles). This new regulation thus seems poised to provide a significant benefit for victims of texting-related accidents nationwide.
