Transportation Secretary Will Not Support Ban on Hands-Free Calls
Posted on Jan 3rd 2012
After investigating a 2010 multi-vehicle highway accident in Gray Summit, Mo., the National Transportation Safety Board called for the first-ever nationwide ban on driver use of "personal electronic devices," such as cell phones, while operating a motor vehicle.
However, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Dec. 21 he does not support a proposal to prohibit drivers from making hands-free cell phone calls.
"The problem is not hands-free," LaHood told reporters at the department's headquarters, according to a Detroit News report. "That is not the big problem in America."
The pronouncement came a week after the National Transportation Safety Board urged states to ban the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices while driving. The NTSB doesn't have the authority to actually impose restrictions, but its recommendations often influence federal regulators as well as congressional and state lawmakers.
Across the country, 35 states have already passed laws restricting text messaging while driving and nine require drivers use hands-free devices while talking on the phone. But the NTSB's recommendations go far beyond these current restrictions, suggesting that states also band hands-free calls.
But LaHood, a champion of distracted-driving laws, prefers to focus on handheld calls. In doing so, he has won the support of automakers, who have spent billions of dollars on technologies such as Ford's Sync to keep drivers connected.
"Anybody that wants to join the chorus against distracted driving, welcome aboard," LaHood said. "If other people want to work on hands-free, so be it."
While the Department of Transportation rejected the NTSB’s recommendation to ban all use of cell phones on the road, they issued on final rule Nov. 23 banning the use of hand-held cell phones by interstate truck and bus drivers. The ban also applies to push-to-talk devices in which the driver needs to hold the device to operate it. However, these drivers can gain compliance with the law by using a hands-free device like a Bluetooth headset or Bluetooth speakerphone while on the road. The law took effect on Jan. 3.
The American Automobile Association estimates that one-third of U.S. drivers regularly use a cell phone while behind the wheel. In the first 11 months of 2011, U.S. consumers spent about $230 million on devices that allow hands-free phone calls, according consumer market researcher NPD Group.
Source: CNET News, Washington DC Employment Law Update, Truckinginfo