The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has wrapped up its investigation of a fatal Missouri collision last year that was caused by a 19 year old teen driver who was frantically texting in the minutes before the chain reaction collision. The accident, which involved the teen driver in a pickup truck, a tractor-trailer and two school buses, resulted in two fatalities and injury to 38 vehicle occupants. The investigation revealed that the teen driver had sent or received 11 texts in the minutes leading up to the fatal crash. Based on this fatal chain reaction collision, the NTSB may now recommend that all states adopt bans on texting while driving by all drivers.
The NTSB has previously recommended a ban on text messaging by bus drivers, commercial drivers and inexperienced teen drivers. The NTSB may make recommendations and has significant influence on federal legislators but does not itself have the power to enact binding regulations. The NTSB has noted that while 35 states now have laws banning texting while driving, many of these bans do not apply to all drivers. Further, the limited scope of these restrictions appears to have been ineffective because the frequency of this unsafe driving behavior has doubled during the last year despite the growing number of state laws restricting texting and driving.
The recently concluded accident investigation follows similar investigations including a California commuter rail crash a few years prior that involved a conductor who was texting when the train crashed causing the death of 25 train passengers. A fatal marine tugboat accident in Philadelphia was caused when the captain was texting. These incidents and the large number of motor vehicle accident victims injured and killed by text messaging while driving has led the NTSB to recommend a complete ban on texting or talking on a cell phone when operating any form of motor vehicle.
One major concern that the NTSB made about the Missouri texting ban by teen drivers is that it was not aggressively enforced. The NTSB is recommending banning all use of cell phones or portable electronic devices by all drivers when operating a motor vehicle except in emergencies. This proposal would apply to both hands free and handheld use of cell phones and goes far beyond any current state laws that restricts cell phone use when driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that twenty percent of all drivers admit to texting while driving while half of all drivers between the ages of 21-24 make the same admission.
This recommendation will make enforcing cell phone bans much easier. There are so many uses of smart phones including web surfing, posting on social networks and watching videos which are not expressly prohibited that it can make enforcement of cell phones bans on texting or talking while driving difficult for law enforcement. A complete ban on all uses of portable electronic devices and cell phones will make enforcing anti-cell phone bans much more workable for law enforcement. The current limited bans that only apply to certain drivers and specific uses of cell phones have not been effective so this broader proposal is designed to prevent the mounting death toll associated with use of portable electronic devices when driving. The experienced distracted driving accident attorneys at Barrett Law have been providing tenacious representation to victims of motor vehicle accidents for over 75 years. We provide diligent legal representation and impassioned advocacy so we invite you to call us today at 662-834-2376 to learn how we can help.