Thread: DOT bans texting by bus and commercial truck drivers

DOT bans texting by bus and commercial truck drivers

10:46 AM

The U.S. Department of Transportation has banned drivers of buses and large commercial trucks from texting while driving or using handheld cell phones.

Violators can be fined up to $2,750.

"We're simply sending a message: when we advise drivers to share the road responsibly, we mean it," says DOT secretary Ray LaHood.

The National Safety Council estimates that at least 1.6 million crashes are caused annually by drivers using cell phones and texting.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... -drivers/1

Violators can be fined up to $2,750.

This should get their attention better than the $100 cell phone fine.

Police: Trucker viewed porn before fatal NY crash

Jan. 27, 2010 06:03 PM
Associated Press .

BUFFALO, N.Y. - State police say a truck driver was watching pornographic movies on his laptop computer when his rig struck a disabled car on the New York State Thruway near Buffalo last month, killing the driver.

Thomas Wallace of Brook Park, Ohio, was arrested Tuesday. He's been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of 33-year-old Julie Stratton, a mother of two from the Buffalo suburb of Snyder.


The 45-year-old was being held in Genesee County Jail on Wednesday. It was unknown whether he had an attorney.

Investigators say Wallace also violated federal trucking rules by sleeping no more than four of 27 hours before the crash. Stratton's car was struck soon after she called 911 to report she'd hit a deer east of Buffalo.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... crash.html