Hands off! Inside the New Law of the Road

Hands off!
Inside the New
Law of the Road
Distracted driving legislation
is changing how commercial
vehicle drivers stay connected.
When your office has four tires and a steering
wheel, just answering a call from your colleague
can get you pulled over by the cops.
For commercial vehicle drivers who spend
long days on the road, it’s essential to
keep in close contact with dispatchers and
other drivers. Even in an age of telematics
and GPS tracking, they rely on voice
communication above all else to stay in
touch. But heightened concerns among the
public and law enforcement officials about
a rise in distracted driving is now shining
a bright spotlight on how road warriors
use communication devices. Drivers and
the companies that equip their rigs are
putting in new practices, and in some cases
new technology to meet more rigid legal
requirements.
Most of the concerns center around smartphones.
Consumers’ rapid adoption of these powerful devices
has led to an increase in accidents caused by drivers
who talk, text message and use other mobile apps
while driving. In response, governments across
Canada and the United States are introducing strict
legislation to curb and penalize these dangerous
behaviours.
Professional drivers have been swept up in the
dragnet. In most provinces and states, they face
the same fines and unforgiving expectations for
hands-free communication. (With one important
exception: two-way radios, which are still too
essential to the trucking industry to be banned
outright, can be used under certain conditions.)
There’s no way around it—commercial vehicle
drivers and those who manage the fleets must adapt
to a new reality. The days of happily squawking
away on the CB mile after mile are long gone.
The Law
of the Road
Ontario’s ban on hand-held devices while
driving took effect on October 26, 2009 and
under new proposed legislation, fines will soon
increase for distracted driving to between
$300 and $1,000, with three demerit points
upon conviction. Drivers who endanger others
by using hand-held or hands-free devices can
also be charged with careless driving, which
can bring fines up as high as $2,000.
Police activity has demonstrated that these are
not empty threats. During a single, week-long
blitz in mid-March 2014, the Ontario Provincial
Police (OPP) laid nearly 2,100 distracted driving
charges and 32 careless driving charges across
the province.
In Quebec, fines
range from $115
to $154, plus three
demerit points.
Driven
to
The
Law
distraction
of
the Road
Of course, the potential cost of not complying
with the law are not just high fines. The OPP
reports that a total of 403 people have
died in distracted driving related collisions
between 2010 and 2013. Last year, the
number of fatalities due to distracted driving
surpassed those of impaired- and speedrelated deaths in motor collisions. The OPP
cites distracted driving as a factor in 30 to
50 percent of traffic collisions in Ontario,
but notes that the percentage is probably
even higher due to under-reporting.
403 people have died
in distracted driving
related collisions
between 2010 and 2013.
As commercial vehicle drivers know, a phone is
not the only source of distraction. Researchers
identify three main types of distraction:
Visual
taking your eyes off the road
Manual
taking your hands off the wheel
The United States enforces even stiffer rules.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA), which develops and enforces
regulations for large trucks and buses, has
banned hand-held mobile calling and texting
for drivers. Sanctions for driver offenses can
include civil penalties up to $2,750 and driver
disqualification for multiple offenses. Motor
carriers themselves are not permitted to
require or allow their drivers to text or use
a hand-held mobile phone while driving and
can face civil penalties up to $11,000.
Cognitive
taking your mind off of driving
A driver will experience one of these forms of
distraction while eating, using an in-vehicle
navigation system, or holding a conversation
with a passenger.
However, texting while driving is particularly
problematic because it leads to all three
types of distraction. In fact, in driving studies
that equipped commercial drivers’ vehicles
with video and data recorders to capture
their natural daily driving activities, truck
drivers who text behind the wheel were 23
times more likely to experience a “safetycritical event” than when not texting. Dialing
a cell phone increased risk by 5.9 times.
Two commercial vehicle driver studies found
that 71% of drivers in the studies’ 21 crashes
and 46% of drivers in the 197 near-crashes
were involved in a distracting non-driving task.
The
One
Button
Rule
Most distracted driving legislation permits some limited use of mobile
devices, under specific conditions. In practical terms, the device must
be within easy reach, activated with a single push of a button and
then used hands-free.
It’s under these guidelines that Ontario exempted two-way radios.
The Ontario legislation, which does not affect mobile data terminals,
logistical tracking devices and dispatching devices, originally included
a three-year phase-out period until January 1, 2013 for the commercial
use of two-way radios, including mobile and CB radios. This exemption
was to allow for hands-free technologies to be developed.
However, in September 2012, the government extended
the exemption for another five years, until 2018.
Specifically, two-way radios, hand-mikes (push-to-talk systems) and
portable radios (“walkie-talkies”) may be used in hands-free mode,
clipped to the driver’s belt or attached to his/her clothing, so long as
the hand-mike is not held while driving. The driver can push and hold
the button to talk and release it to listen, repeating as often as necessary
to conduct a conversation.
Eyes on
the road
Despite the high fines and police blitzes,
new distracted driving legislation enforces
what commercial vehicle drivers and fleet
operators have always known: driving
requires your full attention. Most popular
smartphone technology isn’t designed
for driving. By making smart choices
about the communications technology in
their cabs and taking a more mindful
approach to how they’re used at the wheel,
professional drivers will continue to do
their part make the roads safe.
How to Go
Hands-Free
In Ontario and Quebec, like most
jurisdictions, mobile phones are
for most intents and purposes
two-way radios, however, are
permitted when used properly:
Put device in a hands-free
mode before driving
1
Clip the hand-mike to seat
belt or clothing
2
Press and hold the button
as necessary to conduct the
conversation
3