U.S. bans truckers from texting
 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) --
Commercial truck and bus drivers are now prohibited from sending text messages while driving, the U.S. Transportation Department announced Tuesday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled federal rules expressly prohibiting texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as big rig trucks and buses, transportation officials said in a release.


http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/...1901264528582/

I'm kind of surprised it took this long.

man how they going to line up their meth though?

it should be forbidden for everyone

but what about cooking, reading newspapers and watching TV (or what else truckers do while driving - like masturbating)

kunniiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

taking a piss in a bottle and so on :1orglaugh

its not safe for anyone to text and drive...

I keep a piss bottle/cup in my van at all times....

They will NEVER be able to enforce this....You can text all you want while on the open highway.....Only way you'll get busted is if you get in an accident while texting.

That's filthy

or if they see you

over here it's already forbidden - it's a 40 euro fine and 1 point (18 points and your license is gone). and no, something like "i had cold ears so i wanted to warm them with my phone" doesn't count as excuse. although people get really creative with that

So where you are they dont need to prove your guilty they just have to say so?

Good, ban the rest of the stupid fucks from texting while driving too...

I fully support handsfree only laws....

when two cops say you used your phone - and the phone is indeed there when they stop you, for example on the passenger seat - you are fucked. and to be honest: in 99,9% of the time the cops are right because people still ignore the law and just come up with a bunch of bullshit excuses. i have been almost hit a couple of times by dumb assholes who were busy with their phones so i have no sympathy for them

at least it is still ok to text whilst riding a motorcycle

LLOL that's funny but when he crashes and flies 20ft he will learn his lesson.. or not even cuz he will die.

expect to see tiny parts of that guy scattered along a quarter mile of pavement some day, lol

i guess it's safe to say that he does not need to save money for his retirement

sounds reasonable but not enforceable especially for high sitting trackers

Non-bushy eyebrowed metrosexual men have no problem with it.....We don't need to pull over, find a bathroom, and cover the seat in toilet paper like you do.

Mobile phones (talking and texting) are banned in all road vehicles in Australia, the only exception being if you have a hands free unit that doesn't require you to push anything to initiate or answer a call.

Even a fine of a couple of hundred dollars doesn't stop the idiots.

damn that guy has skill. i cant even answer my phone while on a bike due to helmet and gloves.

While I'm a libertarian at heart and think things like this should be done locally... I will say that the only wreck I've ever been in was while I was texting(learned my lesson ha).. thankfully it was only a fender bender.

I think this is a great law actually.

One of my offline businesses I started 2 years ago. I own 2 semi trucks and trailers and dont allow my drivers to text while driving. Although im sure they do sometimes this will help overall. Besides the danger to everyones lives, that fucking equipment is NOT cheap!!!

So whats next will be voice to text, you will talk to your phone it will translate it into text and send your SMS. Any received messages will be read to you by your phones computer. Effectively removing the barrier for humans to talk to each other or punch out messages on tiny keyboards.

win/win?

:2 cents: :thumbsup


.

I got an idea... Use it as a fucking phone... You know, what it is?

this is kinda a no brainer, should have been banned long time ago...

lol

45678

They already have an app for that lol iphone

i still think its bullshit. no professional driver should be allowed to use a phone while driving and if caught should loose their license for years.

i was in a taxi a few weeks ago and this guy was calling someone and trying to find something on his phone and almost wrecked.. TWICE in a 15 minute cab ride.

Thank God :)

Since it's proven fact that texting while driving is as bad if not worse than driving drunk I think the penalties should be the same as driving drunk.

thats great...should have taken place long time ago

Well im against texting while driving its too complicated. Im going to stick to smoking crack and playing wii on the in dashboard tv, its alot safer. :2 cents:

It's too bad that they actually had to formally ban this and drivers didn't just figure it out on their own...

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

So some teenage piece of shit that can't drive for shit can still text while driving? WTF is wrong with this picture?

has it really been legal?

ohhh, shit
LOL

Good!:thumbsup


I never understand how people have texted myself before saying they cannot chat on the phone as they are driving! :Oh crap

OMFG.... Texting should have been banned before talking without handsfree! :2 cents:

I still hold my CDL even though I haven't driven in a while as it's nice to have as you could basically move anywhere and find a job if you needed to. I use to talk on the phone quite a bit but at the end used a bluetooth and have driven 12+ years with zero accidents. I think good drivers are good drivers and laws like this will have little effect as most people that can't drive good to begin with are usually the dumb asses with no common sense so they are probably already having accidents and a law on the books wont stop them. I can't even imagine texting while driving a truck, eating, drinking, smoking and talking on a phone at the same time as shifting though no problem for me, my car is stick as well. :thumbsup

Good to hear that.

Its just common sense not to do that.

they also made it illegal to drink and drive and do cocaine to stay up while driving, but.... have truckers stopped?? yeah truckers are going to stop texting because of a law. Laws dont stop the millions of civilians doing it now it wont stop truckers either.

LOL

But now they can lose their license and thus their livelyhood. So it will have a deterant effect.

Nothing is wrong with the picture. Driving laws are made by the STATES. Thus the federal government has no say so. Since truckers are involved in interstate commerce they can do something about them.