I personally agree with this. I think it should be extended to no-hands phones as well.
I'd be fine with that as long as the Company is fine with all the missed loads they will have. I get, on average, 4 panic phone calls a week to stop what I'm doing and cover a CPU or reverse course to a meet point to pick up hot loads that were missed for whatever reason. We could go back to the pagers, but since you've never drove Feeders you wouldn't realize how it can take up to 20 minutes to pull off the freeway and find a suitable place to park with a pay phone (if you can even find a pay phone). Oh yes, I'd be using a pay phone and calling collect should I not be able to use my cell phone anymore.
Ray LaHood is short-sighted and these are basically unenforceable rules. For one, an Officer cannot 'search' your phone without a warrant (and even with a warrant if you have locked your phone you are under no obligation to unlock it for him). Also, most every smart phone doubles as a GPS device and MP3 player etc, and only dialing, texting, and emailing are banned activities. It can be hard to spot a CMV driver using a hand held or texting, sometimes twice as hard as in a car. While we don't have tinted windows, suction sun shades can serve just as good and we are sitting 6 feet up in the air, high above most Crown Victoria driving highway patrol officers. Usually enforcement of these laws is limited to the driver admitting fault.
We would all like to believe that CMV drivers are "laser focused on the road ahead" as LaHood thinks this regulation will promote, but the reality is that nobody spends all their time behind the wheel as focused as he would like and CMV drivers are no exception. I'm sure the Company & LaHood would like to believe that we are checking our mirrors every 5-8 seconds, substituting a guage every so often yada yada, but to do so is incredibly tedious for 10-11 hours of driving time. So for long stretches of open road, just like everyone else, we're on the phone, CB, listening to the radio/MP3/CD/Satellite/DVD, snacking, and checking out the hills & valleys in the bipedal scenery; basically doing anything to stay alert for the long trip ahead. Sure, I've seen the crazy people steering with their knees while they eat with a bowl and spoon, read a book or fully unfolded map, and apply makeup in the mirror. I have even seen one guy flossing with both hands. None of these are banned activities, and none actually led to an accident. Accidents happen regardless of whether you are doing everything right or not. Ever seen an officer driving and using his Toughbook? Apparently they possess some sort of superpowers that us mere mortal drivers will never receive.
Personally, most of this should just be common sense. I use a bluetooth because the noise cancelling ones are the only ones that I can be heard and understood with in the Tractor. Goofy looking as hell but they work. Texting shouldn't be an issue, as you can only do a few lines and common sense would say to type no more than 2 letters at a time and don't get too involved (I think the retarded touch screens have exacerbated the texting problem which is why I won't have one). But of course, you can't legislate common sense. Under LaHood's rules, using a Sony PSP would be legal so maybe I should switch to that.
So I say: "Get off my back LaHood". Just as I can manage to maintain my space cushion all around me while driving an 84 ft long set in rush hour traffic but still check the gauges, mirrors, and manage to shift up to 10 gears while changing the station on my Sirius, getting a traffic update on the CB, sipping on a RockStar while snacking on some pistachios, adjusting the climate control, wipers, mirror heat, sneezing into a tissue, and checking out that hottie in the p
y window, slowing for the maroon who cut into my stopping distance, monitoring the GPS & watching for my exit sign, merging across 4 lanes of traffic into a split as I know the lanes go away ahead, keeping tabs on the speed limit, what mile marker I'm at and the clearance of that bridge approaching, merging left for that construction then back again, avoiding the road alligator & the stray dog, then clearing that bicyclist before I shut down the lane to button hook my turn, I promise I won't even break a sweat taking the phone from my chest pocket to answer a call from my panicked dispatcher who (once again) forgot to cover the 1915 air pull.
