AMTA  E-News

February 2010

 US Imposes Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers

Effective immediately, drivers operating large trucks in the US will be subject to fines of up to $2,750 if caught texting on a cell phone, Blackberry or other hand held device. However, for now at least, the use of such devices for making phone calls or the use of dispatch and communications equipment such as gps or satellite systems and CB radios is still permitted under the new interpretation of the law, although the US government has warned that it is working on additional regulatory measures to deal with the use of these devices.

According to information provided by Canadian Trucking Alliance (of which AMTA is a founding member), the ruling strictly prohibits drivers of commercial vehicles such as trucks from texting while driving. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.   Commercial motor vehicles are defined by FMCSA as those vehicles with a gross weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight of 4536 kgs (10,001 lbs) or more.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood directed the FMCSA  to use its existing authority  under FMCSR 390.17  "additional equipment and accessories" to issue regulatory guidance to prohibit commercial truck and bus drivers from texting while driving, using any hand-held cell phone or other device  to text.    The use of 390.17 is an immediate stop gap to move carriers and drivers in the direction of doing the right thing outside of formal regulation.  The regulatory guidance is very specific in its reference to hand held cell phones and other hand held devices. According to FMCSA, the regulatory guidance should not be construed to prohibit the use of electronic dispatching and fleet management systems, or that it prohibits the use of cell phones for purposes other than texting; however it does state that safety conscious carriers should neither allow, nor require their drivers to type or read messages while driving.    This means that the use of cell phones for talking, cb radios and the use of in-cab gps, satellite and other dispatch communications technologies are not impacted by this directive.