After a six month investigation into a fatal truck crash that killed eleven innocent people, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed what many suspected — the truck driver, Kenneth Laymon, was distracted by his cell phone.

The evidence behind the NTSB’s conclusion:

• Mr. Laymon used his mobile phone 69 times while driving in the 24-hour period prior to crash
• Mr. Laymon made four calls in the minutes leading up to the crash
• Mr. Laymon dialed his phone at 5:14 a.m. at the exact time the truck departed the highway.

This NTSB video animation of the crash shows clearly what happened when Mr. Laymon’s distraction caused him to lose control of his vehicle:

While there are plenty of reasons to be outraged by this terrible tragedy — perhaps the biggest outrage is that Mr. Laymon’s employer, Hester Inc., could have easily identified his reckless cell phone behavior before the crash — not after the fact.

The NTSB, in predictable “easier-said-than-done” fashion, is recommending a total ban on cell phone use by commercial truck drivers.  Whether such a ban is feasible is completely irrelevant because the NTSB does not regulate the trucking industry.  That responsibility falls to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which, under the leadership of Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, has already taken steps to propose rules that would prohibit truckers from hand held use of cell phones while driving.  The proposed rule would apply to 4 million commercial drivers and prohibit them from reaching for, holding or dialing a cell phone while operating a CMV.  Drivers who violate these restrictions would face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and disqualification of their commercial driver’s license (CDL) for multiple offenses.  Motor carriers that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving would face a maximum penalty of $11,000.

Regardless of what FMCSA regulations say or don’t say — well-run trucking companies should take advantage of new and inexpensive technology that enables them to measure and monitor employee use of cell phones while driving on the job.  We came up with FleetSafer Vision (screenshot shown here) to give companies tools for averting these kinds of preventable, tragic crashes and implementing such technology will allow them to save lives and money by identifying risky cell phone behavior before — not after — the fact.