The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) once again recommended to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and all 50 states and the District of Columbia that they prohibit all commercial drivers from using any mobile phones while behind the wheel, including those school bus drivers.
NTSB made its latest recommendations following a crash investigation into a March 2010 median cross-over collision between a truck-tractor semi-trailer and a 15-passenger van in Munfordville, Ky. The truck driver, van driver and nine van passengers were killed during the crash and resulting fire.
The probable cause of the crash according to NTSB was the driver of the semi-trailer being distracted by his cell phone before he lost control of the truck and crossed the highway median. NTSB recommended that federal regulations and state laws be passed to prohibit the use of both hand-held and hands-free cellular telephones by all commercial driver’s license holders while driving in commercial operations, except in emergencies. To date, 19 states and the District of Columbia prohibit school bus drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel.
Last September, FMCSA did publish a final rule prohibiting texting by commercial drivers but stopped short of banning actual conversations on either hand-held or hands-free devices. Then, in December, FMCSA published an NPRM that would restrict the use of hand-held cellular phones by commercial drivers. If finalized, that rule would specifically target phone conversations.
Peter Knudson, a media affairs specialist for NTSB, said FMCSA needs to go farther.
“Our recommendation is hand-held and hands-free,” he added. “We just don’t think they’re going quite far enough.”
Regular and special-needs school bus routes are exempt from FMCSA regulations, and only about 1 percent of school bus activity trips qualify as interstate operations because of a 300-mile, short-haul exemption for school buses. So Knudson said the states would need to enact more stringent laws or policies to affect the greatest possible number of school bus drivers.
NTSB also issued a recommendation to FMCSA to apply the vetting criteria of the New Applicant Screening Program to the information submitted by all new entrant motor carriers, and NTSB followed up with additional recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration, NHTSA, the state of Kentucky, the American Association of State Highway and Traffic Officials, and the Governors Highway Safety Association to fix various highway median issues and a lack of seat belts in non-conforming vans.
