6.4 Distracted Driving and the Federal Mobile Phone and Texting Rules (49 CFR 392.80 and 392.82)

Distracted Driving and the Federal Mobile Phone Rules

A driver distraction is anything that takes your attention away from driving. Whenever your full attention is not on the driving task, you are putting yourself, your passengers, other vehicles, and pedestrians in danger. In a vehicle that needs the better part of a football field and a half to stop, a two-second lapse is not a near miss — it is roughly 175 feet of road covered blind at highway speed.

1. Where Distractions Come From

Inside the vehicle: talking to passengers; adjusting the radio, media player, or climate controls; eating, drinking, or smoking; reading maps, bills of lading, or other literature; picking up something that fell; talking on a cell phone or CB radio; reading or sending text messages; operating navigation systems, tablets, or other telematics devices; and daydreaming or being occupied with other mental distractions.

Outside the vehicle: other traffic, vehicles, or pedestrians; outside events such as a police traffic stop or a crash scene; sunlight and sunset glare; objects in the roadway; road construction; and reading billboards or roadside advertising.

2. The Size of the Problem

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) reported that 8 percent of large-truck crashes occurred when the CMV driver was externally distracted and 2 percent occurred when the driver was internally distracted. Nationally, the CDL manual cites NHTSA figures of approximately 5,500 people killed each year and an estimated 448,000 injured in crashes involving distracted driving.

Two research findings deserve memorizing because they undercut the most common driver rationalizations:

• Talking on a cell phone — even hands-free — consumes roughly 39 percent of the brain's capacity that would otherwise go to safe driving. "Hands-free" solves the physical problem, not the mental one.
• If drivers react half a second slower because of distraction, crashes double.

3. Three Types of Distraction

Effects of distraction: slowed perception, so you are late to notice — or completely miss — an important traffic event; and delayed decision-making and improper action, so you either react too late or make an incorrect steering, throttle, or brake input.

4. The Federal Rules: 49 CFR 392.80 and 392.82

Two short regulations govern electronic devices in a CMV, and both bind the carrier as well as the driver.

49 CFR 392.80 — Prohibition against texting. No driver shall engage in texting while driving. No motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to text while driving.

49 CFR 392.82 — Using a hand-held mobile telephone. No driver shall use a hand-held mobile telephone while driving a CMV. No motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to do so.

What "Using a Hand-Held Mobile Telephone" Means

The prohibited conduct is defined precisely, and each prong catches a different excuse:

1. Using at least one hand to hold a mobile telephone to conduct a voice communication;
2. Dialing a mobile telephone by pressing more than a single button; or
3. Moving from a seated driving position while restrained by a seat belt to reach for a mobile telephone.

If you use a phone at all while operating a CMV, it must be a hands-free phone located close enough to be operated from the normal seated, belted driving position with a single-button touch.

The Definition of "Driving" — the Item Candidates Miss

For both rules, driving means operating a CMV on a highway, including while temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device, or other momentary delays. Driving does not include operating the vehicle when the driver has moved it to the side of, or off, the highway and halted in a location where the vehicle can safely remain stationary.

In plain terms: sitting at a red light, in a construction queue, or in stop-and-go traffic, you are driving, and picking up the phone is a violation. Pulled onto the shoulder in a safe spot, or parked at a truck stop, you are not.

The Emergency Exception

Both rules permit hand-held use and texting when necessary to communicate with law enforcement officials or other emergency services. That is the entire exception — not dispatch, not a customer, not a family emergency.

5. Penalties

Violations carry federal civil penalties against both the driver and the motor carrier, and — more consequentially for your career — they are disqualifying offenses under 49 CFR 383.51:

Multiple convictions under a state or local law restricting hand-held phone use while driving a CMV count toward the same sanctions.

6. Eliminating Your Own Distractions

The goal is to remove in-vehicle distractions before driving begins: assess potential distractions before you roll, build a plan to reduce or eliminate them, expect distractions to occur, and settle navigation, messages, food, and climate before you release the parking brake. Turn off or stow communication devices you are not permitted to use.

7. Recognizing Other Distracted Drivers

You cannot control the four-wheeler beside you, but you can identify one. Watch for vehicles that drift over lane lines or wander within their own lane, vehicles traveling at inconsistent speeds, drivers preoccupied with maps, food, cigarettes, phones, or other objects, and drivers deep in conversation with passengers. Give a distracted driver plenty of room, maintain your safe following distance, and be very careful when passing one — they may not know you are there and may drift into your lane as you come alongside.