Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is making another attempt to reduce the risks of distracted driving-related trucking accidents in Georgia and elsewhere. The most recent attempt comes after a court hearing pertaining to a fatal trucking accident that took the lives of 11 people and took out local shops in Kentucky back in March of last year, according to USA TODAY.

Officials believe that a cell phone was the cause of that accident as the Alabama driver's phone records state that he was on his phone just mere seconds before the accident. Investigators also discovered that he had made nearly 70 calls and texts in just the 24-hour period leading up to the accident.

Our Atlanta trucking accident attorneys understand that using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle can turn deadly in just seconds, especially when the driver's vehicle is a large truck. Drivers need to remember that no phone call and no text message is worth the life of you or another motorist or yours. All drivers are urged to curb distractions and keep full focus on the roadway at all times. Phone calls and texts can wait.

NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman says that she expects a majority of truckers to oppose these recommendations, but as these types of accident are becoming more and more frequent, a ban like this is necessary.

The NTSB has handed the recommendation over to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The new recommendation aims to take over the ban of commercial truck drivers sending text messages while driving. Currently, If a truck driver is busted, they can wind up with a fine of nearly $3,000. That law was passed in September of 2010, but the NTSB wants stricter laws. The ban of all hand-held devices is expected to get a final ruling later this fall.

There are no states that currently ban the use of all cell phones, including hands-free devices, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Less than 10 states and the District of Columbia ban drivers from using hand-held phones. There are 34 states that ban drivers from text messaging behind the wheel.

According to the most recently released statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than 3,300 people killed in the United States in 2009 because of traffic accidents that involved a large truck. A large truck, for statistical purposes, is considered a vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds. Nearly 75,000 people were injured in these types of accidents during the same year.

Of the deaths that resulted from these accidents, roughly 75 percent were experienced by the occupants of vehicles other than the large truck, 10 percent were experienced by nonoccupants and 15 percent of the fatalities were experienced by those riding in the large truck. There were nearly 150 fatalities resulting from trucking accidents in Georgia throughout the year.

Many of these lives could have been saved if there were distracted driving-related regulations and bans in place to help keep truck driver focus on the roadway instead of on a phone. But it also takes common-sense actions by drivers to make our roadways safer.