The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended banning the use of all cell phones while driving, save those used for emergency purposes. This was recommended during a board meeting on December 13th, 2011. This recommendation is for all drivers nationwide, and also calls for the video surveillance of commercial drivers to make sure they are not talking or texting while driving. While it cannot be argued texting or talking while driving is unsafe, the question remains if we need to make a law regulating our activities behind the wheel. The recommendation does not specify what the use of a cell phone is, or what this does or does not include.
Restrictions on Hands Free use?
In the recommendation, it does not specify if the use of hands free devices would be allowed or also banned. CNN reports hands free devices would also be banned, except those built into the vehicle. Without this being specified within the article, I am unsure if this is true or not. It does not make sense to ban the use of hands free devices with as Bluetooth headsets, as you do not need to hold onto something when driving. In addition, in most phones these days you can program them to respond to voice commands, negating the use of one’s hands. As someone with a Bluetooth connection built into my vehicle, I rarely if ever touch my phone in the car. The only positive side of this would be to push technology toward integrating cell phone functionally within most if not all vehicles.
Commercial Driver Restrictions
If you are a truck driver or use your vehicle for your livelihood, prepare to be upset. One of the recommendations is for all commercial vehicles to be equipped with video event recorders that “capture data in connection with the driver and the outside environment and roadway in the event of a crash or sudden deceleration event. The device should create recordings that are easily accessible for review when conducting efficiency testing and systemwide performance-monitoring programs”. Imagine the cost of adding this to a commercial vehicle. Does this mean you need two or more cameras to view the driver and also environment? Where would the data go, and who would have access to it? How would it be stored, and could the driver see this video at any point? There are many questions to ask, and clarification is needed if this is to go anywhere.
Are your Rights in Jeopardy?
If this recommendation becomes a law or series of laws, how will it be enforced? If a cop sees you holding a phone, is that a ticket, even if you are not talking nor texting? Will the government now require cell phone providers to send logs of caller activity at anytime? One recommendation is for cell phone providers to invent technology that shuts down the phone when the vehicle is in motion. How much is to much? I do not text while driving, and I do not know anyone who does, however what will it take before all our rights are taken away because of foolish and immature people? Overall I hope this does not become a law, or we will see more rights taken away for our “safety”.
NTSB Recommendation: Here.
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Tags: cell phones, Government, NTSB, rights, texting while driving
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