We all know that the government looks for any type of excuse to put new regulations on us and I was not a bit surprised that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) voted unanimously to recommend to ban all electronic devices while the driver is driving...
And yes that means the use of hands-free cell phones.
They are also recommending
"Require all heavy commercial vehicles to be equipped with video event recorders that capture data in connection with the driver and the outside environment and roadway in the event of a crash or sudden deceleration event. The device should create recordings that are easily accessible for review when conducting efficiency testing and systemwide performance-monitoring programs. (H-10-10)
Require motor carriers to review and use video event recorder information in conjunction with other performance data to verify that driver actions are in accordance with company and regulatory rules and procedures essential to safety. (H-10-11) read more from the NTSB...
and that's not even the half of it.
I wish that I could post the whole article on here but of course copyright regulations prevents me from doing it so I highly recommend that you go to the link above and read the entire article and the NTSB's recommendations.
some will say that the NTSB can not create new regulations they can only make recommendations however, the new nationwide handheld cell phone ban was recently passed due to the NTSB recommendations.
so when is enough... enough?
How much of big brother do we have to have in our lives?
I get pretty tired of using safety as an excuse for replacing common sense to add new regulations.
And while some will say especially regarding commercial vehicles that having a video recording of the driver in order to fight (get ready for here's the buzzword) driver fatigue, they don't look at the real reasons for the fatigue which I will not go into at this writing.
Just remember, today they're talking about commercial vehicles for the installation of video recording devices. Cars already have black boxes in them to reconstruct an accident it's only a matter of time before agencies like the NTSB recommends video recording devices in all vehicles.
Just my opinion.
3 comments:
Hi Robin,
In your blog post you say "... the new nationwide handheld cell phone ban was recently passed due to the NTSB recommendations."
I don't think this is correct. Do you have a link that verifies it?
NTSB cell phone ban recommendation
...To the 50 states and the District of Columbia:
(1) Ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers; (2) use the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration model of high visibility enforcement to support these bans; and (3) implement targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and enforcement, and to warn them of the dangers associated with the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices while driving. (H-11-XX)
<a href="HTTP://fastlane.dot.gov/2011/11/fmcsa-finalizes-hand-held-cell-ban.html>handheld ban for commercial vehicles</a> Department of Transportation's website. Granted, in this particular case this ban was recently applied nationally to commercial vehicles... however, private cars will be next.
Thank you for pointing this out... apparently I did get my agencies mixed up and I did make a correction.
Personally, I agree with the handheld ban as unfortunately a lot of people can't walk and chew gum at the same time however, to ban cell phone use completely... I don't think that's going to fly.
a correction for my correction... from the recommendation of the NTSB to the Department of Transportation to ban all handheld cell phone devices in commercial vehicles. Please see previous link.
Maybe that's the other problem... we have the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) the Department of Transportation (DOT) the federal motor carrier safety administration (FMCSA) and who knows how many more that I may have list on this list.
Do we really need all these agencies?
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