Trucking Association Supports Texting Ban to Prevent Accidents

Texting while driving is one of the most dangerous activities a truck driver could be indulging in, as any Texas trucking accident lawyer will tell you. The American Trucking Association this week voted to back a new bill that will ban texting by all drivers.

The bill, called the Avoiding Life Endangering and Reckless Texting by a Driver Act had been introduced by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Under the bill, states will have to enforce texting bans, and those that don't, may lose 25 percent of their annual federal highway funding.

The bill was born out of several recent accidents that involved operators busy with their cell phones. Last year, a Metrolink train crash in California was traced to the operator of the commuter train texting with a rail fan in the minutes before the crash. Earlier this year, a Boston trolley operator, who was texting while at the wheel, caused an accident that left at least 50 passengers injured. Then in August, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute installed video cameras in truck cabs, and found that truckers who were texting were up to 23 times more likely to be involved in the accident.

The American Trucking Association has had no choice in the light of all this evidence, but to support any bill that bans texting while driving. However, it has yet to take a firm stand against the use of computers in trucking cabs. These computers, which consist of a screen and a small keyboard, are used by trucking companies to keep in constant touch with truckers, and to send messages and orders. Truckers are required to pull over the truck before they use the computer. However, as Texas truck accident lawyers know, that doesn't always happen. The result is that motorists in the vicinity are at an increased risk of an accident because of the operator of a massive tractor trailer rig is busy with his computer.

The Virginia Tech Study found that texting was a much bigger distraction for truckers than using computers. However, truckers are also more likely to use their computers than text at the wheel. As the New York Times reports, trucking companies continue to insist that the computers are less of a distraction than cell phones.