Posts Tagged 'DOT'

FMCSA Ban on Commmercial Drivers’ Hand-Held Phone Use Is Now in Effect

As of today (January 3, 2012), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) new rule prohibiting interstate commercial drivers from using hand-held mobile phones is in effect. That means individual drivers caught violating the ban will now face fines of up to $2,750 – and they could lose their commercial driver’s licenses for multiple infractions. [...]

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: NHTSA Numbers Show Road Fatalities Down But Distracted Driving Up

Let’s start with the good news, shall we? Here it goes: annual U.S. road fatalities are at their lowest level in over 60 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) newly-updated fatality and injury data for 2010. Says a Department of Transportation press release: “The record-breaking decline in traffic fatalities occurred even [...]

FMCSA Cell Phone Ban: The Complicated Truth for Trucking Fleets

Simple yet complicated, just like a Rubik’s cube.  That’s the truth about the FMCSA’s new rule prohibiting an estimated 4 million truck and bus drivers from using handheld cell phones while operating their vehicles. On one hand, the rule itself is quite simple.  Commercial drivers caught violating the restriction will face federal civil penalties of [...]

Fighting Fire with Fire: New PumpTop TV PSAs Use Technology to Wage War on Distracted Driving

The hallmark of the digital age is technology’s pervasiveness – tech factors into absolutely everything we do. Cutting-edge consumer electronics used to be getting basic cable on your TV – now it’s streaming live TV to your smartphone or tablet (with your standard TV on in the background!). Or it’s watching TV while you pump [...]

FMCSA Bans Handheld Cell Phone Use While Driving. Now What?

Last Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave safety advocates something to be thankful for: a new rule prohibiting an estimated 8.5 million truck drivers and one million bus drivers from using handheld cell phones while operating their vehicles. For trucking companies, however, the new rule is a complicated and sharp [...]

Volkswagen and Audi: Two Employers Who Embrace Safe Driving Practices

It’s fitting that two auto manufacturers would step up and publicly show that preventing work-related distracted driving starts with employers. The two companies in question, Volkswagen and Audi, yesterday hosted U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood at their joint American headquarters in Herndon, VA (where ZoomSafer HQ is located, too!). What was the occasion? As Sec. [...]

Disney/Pixar Teams Up With NHTSA for Cars 2 Distracted Driving PSA

With the upcoming release of Disney/Pixar’s newest film Cars 2, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has joined forces with the creative powerhouse to make a funny little public service announcement on the problem of distracted driving,  starring Mater, the endearing rustheap voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. The PSA is part of the [...]

USDOT and Better Business Bureau Team Up to Stop Distracted Driving

The same week that ZoomSafer announced a new partnership with Ovation Wireless to help companies reduce distracted driving risk, big things were also afoot at the U.S. Department of Transportation. On June 8th, USDOT and the Better Business Bureau nnounced they would partner to more better educate companies about their responsibilities to prevent distracted driving, [...]

New FMCSA Safety Measures Miss the Bus

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the DOT was taking new steps to help ensure the safety of bus passengers – by tightening restrictions on commercial bus drivers. According to a DOT press release, the DOT will now require more stringent commercial driver’s license (CDL) testing, work for new rules to [...]

[White Paper] How FMCSA Is Handling Distracted Driving in Commercial Transportation

It’s no secret that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is an outspoken leader in the fight to end distracted driving. Distracted driving is a frequent focus of Sec. LaHood’s at news conferences, media interviews and events and on his official blog. And when it comes to commercial drivers, Sec. LaHood and his Department have [...]

« Older Entries