More Trucking Companies Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving

Even as efforts against distracted driving by motorists mount, the federal administration is focusing on distracted driving by commercial truck and bus drivers. A new survey finds that many trucking companies are now enacting and enforcing policies against distracted driving by commercial truck drivers in order to avoid liability when these drivers cause an accident while on a cell phone.

The results of the survey by Aegis were published recently in a report titled Measuring Corporate Attitudes to Employee Distracted Driving. The survey results found that most trucking companies, or 71% already have a strict policy against distracted driving in place. That is extremely encouraging news for Texas truck accident attorneys who believe that it’s not only important for the federal administration to have bans on texting while driving, but also equally important for companies to foster a workplace culture that rejects distracted driving.

Among the companies that do not yet have a policy against distracted driving, as many as 52% said that they plan to adopt a policy soon, and 55% expect a policy to be in place over the next year.

However, the trucking companies seem to be ambivalent when it comes to the projected success of these policies, with only about 32% reporting high levels of confidence about the success of the policies. Therefore, these companies also plan to experiment with technology and gadgetry as well as software to complement their distracted driving bans. About 22% of the companies in the survey reported that they would soon evaluate some kind of technology to prevent drivers from using cell phones while driving, including software, as well as in-truck camera systems.