Industry News: NTSB Wants To Ban Personal Electronic Use While Driving

[William Maley]

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Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on using any personal electronic devices while driving. The recommendation was made to all US states.

So what kind of personal electronic devices are we talking about? The NTSB’s director was specific about wanting to ban phone calls, texting, updating your status on facebook, etc. However, the director was less specific on possible provisions that would allow specific driving related uses like GPS.

NTSB cited studies regarding electronic device use while driving and accident data in it’s recommendation, stating the danger is real and the time to act is now.

The NTSB doesn’t have the power to create or enforce restrictions, it can influence federal regulators and state and local governments to create bans. Currently in the US, nine states and the District of Columbia ban talking on the phone while behind the wheel and thirty-five states ban texting while driving.

Press Release is on Page 2

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No call, no text, no update behind the wheel: NTSB calls for nationwide ban on PEDs while driving

Following today's Board meeting on the 2010 multi-vehicle highway accident in Gray Summit, Missouri, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for the first-ever nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) while operating a motor vehicle.

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement.

"According to NHTSA, more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents", said Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving."

"No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life."

On August 5, 2010, on a section of Interstate 44 in Gray Summit, Missouri, a pickup truck ran into the back of a truck-tractor that had slowed due to an active construction zone. The pickup truck, in turn, was struck from behind by a school bus. That school bus was then hit by a second school bus that had been following. As a result, two people died and 38 others were injured.

The NTSB's investigation revealed that the pickup driver sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes preceding the accident. The last text was received moments before the pickup struck the truck-tractor.

The Missouri accident is the most recent distraction accident the NTSB has investigated. However, the first investigation involving distraction from a wireless electronic device occurred in 2002, when a novice driver, distracted by a conversation on her cell phone, veered off the roadway in Largo, Maryland, crossed the median, flipped the car over, and killed five people.

Since then, the NTSB has seen the deadliness of distraction across all modes of transportation.

In 2004, an experienced motorcoach driver, distracted on his hands-free cell phone, failed to move to the center lane and struck the underside of an arched stone bridge on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia. Eleven of the 27 high school students were injured;

In the 2008 collision of a commuter train with a freight train in Chatsworth, California, the commuter train engineer, who had a history of using his cell phone for personal communications while on duty, ran a red signal while texting. That train collided head on with a freight train - killing 25 and injuring dozens;

• In 2009, two airline pilots were out of radio communication with air traffic control for more than an hour because they were distracted by their personal laptops. They overflew their destination by more than 100 miles, only realizing their error when a flight attendant inquired about preparing for arrival.
  
• In Philadelphia in 2010, a barge being towed by a tugboat ran over an amphibious "duck" boat in the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian tourists. The tugboat mate failed to maintain a proper lookout due to repeated use of a cell-phone and laptop computer;
  
• In 2010, near Munfordville, Kentucky, a truck-tractor in combination with a 53-foot-long trailer, left its lane, crossed the median and collided with a 15-passenger van. The truck driver failed to maintain control of his vehicle because he was distracted by use of his cell-phone. The accident resulted in 11 fatalities
  
• In the last two decades, there has been exponential growth in the use of cell-phone and personal electronic devices. Globally, there are 5.3 billion mobile phone subscribers or 77 percent of the world population. In the United States, that percentage is even higher - it exceeds 100 percent.
  

Further, a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study of commercial drivers found that a safety-critical event is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing, or accessing the Internet.

"The data is clear; the time to act is now. How many more lives will be lost before we, as a society, change our attitudes about the deadliness of distractions?" Hersman said.

A synopsis of the NTSB report, including the probable cause, findings, and a complete list of the safety recommendations, will be available online after the meeting.

The NTSB's full report will be available on the website in several weeks.

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[ocnblu]

Excellent idea. Should have been a ban in effect years ago. It's too late for some.

[Turbojett]

GOOD.

[loki]

i got an idea.. make the driver's test harder. [sarcasm] oh wait.. Prohibitions for all!!!! yay!!! [/sarcasm]

[balthazar]

^ It's an interesting idea tho- some people can handle talking & driving fine -it is not like DUI in that respect. Wonder if there could be a way to test & pass that- it's merely another skill set.

Texting is another issue tho.

[Turbojett]

it's not that some can do it well, it's that EVERYBODY THINKS they can do it well. I think it's a good idea; it's just another driving distraction. and maybe this will bring about hands-free bluetooth as standard equipment in cars.

[loki]

it's not really the holding the phone thing that gets people distracted...it's the conversation part of the call/text.

how about a text to speech and vise versa for replying? THAT would help tons of people, and not restrict what someone does in their car...while letting them keep their eyes on the road and around.. not at a screen.

[SAmadei]

I always thought the solution would be a bluetooth chording keypad/mouse and bluetooth HUD. Put the Smartphone screen on the windshield, to limit ones eye diversion... and replace the shifter knob with the chording keypad/mouse. Now you are never taking your eyes off the windshield or hands off the control of the car.

Sure, people will still crash... but people are going to phone, surf and text anyway... might as well accept it somewhat and make it able to be done safer.

Of course, the learning curve of the chording keypad/mouse might be too steep for some folks.

[Robert Hall]

Voice regcognition/interaction like the iPhone's Siri could be useful for a lot of in-car telematics..

[balthazar]

it's not that some can do it well, it's that EVERYBODY THINKS they can do it well.

Everyone thinks they can drive well, too.

it's not really the holding the phone thing that gets people distracted...it's the conversation part of the call/text.

Not the general consensus tho, it seems. Because I've yet to see any 'expert' opinion against hands-free conversations.