Cell Phone Cited in "probable cause" in crash killing 11

[bubblehead]

"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines that the probable cause of this accident was the truck driver's failure to maintain control of the truck-tractor combination vehicle because he was distracted by use of his cellular telephone"
Highway Accident Report: HAR-11-02

Pretty much self explanitory...sad so many deaths from this I-65accident.

 

[Turtle]

That report is mostly political crap, spun to further Ray La Hood's personal hobby horse of distracted driving, which is what he wants his legacy to reflect. Initial reports from the FMCSA as reported in newspaper and TV news reports, showed the driver had a falsified logbook and was driving way past his HoS. Yet that little tid bit is wholly absent from the final report. This report was the final nail in allowing the FMCSA to issue the final ruling on banning handhelds in CMVs, despite the DOT having no conclusive data whatsoever that handheld cell phones cause an increased or unreasonable risk to the general public. In fact, their own data shows that with the music players, DVD players, GPS, cell phone and other distracted toys in vehicles, the accident rates for both CMV's and passengers cars have not risen in tandem with the increased use of these gadgets. Accident rates have actually gone down. So this isn't about safety, it's about Ray La Hood and his great legacy of pseudo-safety.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I see a lot of "The need to..."

The only "need to" is for government to quit trying to run everyone's lives.

 

[greg334]

Ignored in the summary is the fact that the driver didn't get the proper sleep and there were indications of continuios incoming and outgoing calls during the time he was supposed to be sleeping.

I can see the political motivation involved with LaHood, he may be our next VP or something like that but really texting being the root cause of this accident while ignoring falsified logs and lack of sleep makes one wonder in amazement how our government operates. The real solution would simply be to have the FCC make a rule that stops texting, end the problem right at the source.

Further parts of the report indicate that the real failure was the barrier system on the highway which would have prevented him from crossing into the opposing lane.

What's amazing is that as bad as this accident was, it still isn't as bad as some of the accidents caused by bus drivers. No where has there been a suggestion of limiting the speed of those OTR buses by the NTSB and taken so seriously that the DOT immediately created a rule and pushed it through.

The real failure is that the NTSB is not doing their just and neither is the Fed DOT. There should be a serious outcry from those on the road to congress about the needed oversight of this department.

 

[Turtle]

But, then they can't say things like, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." <snort>

The government is the epitome of incompetence. For example, it was the government, the USDA, many years ago who stated that it was the tryptophan in turkey that makes you sleepy on Thanksgiving. That's simply not true, yet people believe it. Your Thanksgiving chicken has more typetophan in it than the turkey does. Your Thanksgiving ham and your Thanksgiving Châteaubrian for Two has the same amount of tyyptophan as turkey. Cheddar cheese has nearly three times the tryptophan as turkey, actually. What makes you sleep on Thanksgiving is your Thanksgiving Carbs.

Another flavorful example of incompetence is the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), a division of the Department of Labor, who commissioned a FREE iPhone app (the Heat Safety Tool), which generates the local "heat index" and provides appropriate tips, like "drink fluids" and "keep cool". It uses freely available data from Internet sources, not one of which is a federal government site (you'd think that NOAA or NASA would be a source, but no), and has an interface that's laughably infantile. What makes this an example of incompetence is one- the app mostly doesn't work, two- the US Department of Labor's OSHA division outsourced the creation and coding of the app to a British company who completed the app in two hours, and three- it cost the taxpayers $200,000.

 

[Monty]

I still agree with the ruling, but not the reason for it.

Using a handheld phone, or texting, is just not safe, you are indeed distracted.

That said, indeed the government is sticking their heads where they don't belong. Carriers, and insurance companies, can regulate this much better.

As for him being distracted while he was supposed to be resting, the FMCSA themselves have said that is perfectly acceptable, saying that it does not constitute a reason to come from line 1, or 2, on the logbook while on a 10 hour break.

 

[bubblehead]

as all the above had stated, there is a lot more to the "cause" than a phone call...when the story af this accident first aired, I was speculating something like a medical incapacitation or asleep with the cruise control on...for the truck to have gone as far as it did without any apparent response from the driver...must have been some 900# he didn't want to hang up on...seems like this accident was the fodder to push the regs.

 

[greg334]

Using a handheld phone, or texting, is just not safe, you are indeed distracted.

Using the handheld device is really not a cause for anything, there is no proof that it causes any more distractions than using a hands free device. The texting on the other part is an easy solution for all - FCC can stop the use of it, they have the power.

BUT realistically speaking, having seen a few accidents and near-accidents not caused by anything more then a mother (or father) dealing with their brats in the car, I feel there are more things that distract drivers than a phone call. I've seen several times a driver going down the road reaching back to feed their brat something to shut them up, some have even unbelted themselves and bent back to hand the kids some juice box or bottle. I've even seen a mother breast feeding her kid while driving, wearing no seat belt and talking on the phone - which the first two parts are far more dangerous than the last.

Maybe having the government to force car makers to put in partitions between the driver and front passenger and the back seat so there is absolutely no contact between the brats and drivers is a better solution - no dealing with brats, so no serious distractions.

That brings me to another point, kids in trucks should also be banned.

 

[beachbum]

Where in the rules for your 10 straight hour break does it say it has to be in the sleeper, it says 10 hours off duty taken either in the sleeper of a combo of off duty and sleeper berth or 10 straight off duty. The only sleeper berth requirement is if you use the 8/2 split, then 8 hours has to be in sleeper.

You have to remember that the NTSB is against cell phones in any vehicle, therefore, NTSB is biased in anything that has to do with cell phone use.

I cannot believe that a person is going to go off the road while on the cell phone. he might miss his freeway exit, there had to be other reasons, like falling a sleep at the wheel, but that doesn't fit into NTSB's biased report.

 

[AMonger]

... or asleep with the cruise control on...

Not that it would fix everything, but locomotives have a button to engineer must press at random intervals. An alarm sounds and the operator must press a button within a certain number of seconds or the train comes to a halt. That would have to be modified for highway use, and but I'm sure it would be beneficial.