Skip to main content

Guide to complying with FMCSA handheld cell phone ban

Effective yestereday, a new US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule prohibits an estimated four million commercial truck and bus drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving.
March 22, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Effective yestereday, a new US 4170 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule prohibits an estimated four million commercial truck and bus drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. Under the new rule, individual drivers face civil penalties up to US$2,750, while employers can be held liable and fined up to $11,000 per infraction committed while drivers are carrying out company business or otherwise acting on the employer’s behalf.

To help commercial fleet operators understand and conform to the new regulation, ZoomSafer, a provider of software to prevent distracted driving, has published FMCSA Cell Phone Use Regulations: A Guide to Compliance for Truck and Bus Fleets.

“FMCSA has made it abundantly clear that employers are responsible if their employees violate the rule,” said ZoomSafer CEO Matt Howard. “This new white paper offers commercial fleet operators a detailed explanation of the handheld phone ban and guidance on how to measure and manage employee compliance.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road safety is an EU priority
    March 2, 2012
    The preparation of the new EU Road Safety Policy for the next decade will take place during Spain's presidency of the EU. Patrick Smith reports. An the past 10 years, half a million people have been killed on European Union roads, with road crashes costing an annual €160 billion or 2% the EU's GDP.
  • New strategies will help boost road safety worldwide
    November 4, 2013
    *Martin Heath, the Chair of the IRF Group of Experts working group on Engineering Measures for Infrastructure Safety, examines the expected impacts of the new ISO 39001 The excitement and enthusiasm generated by the 2011 launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety is gradually receding amidst the gloom of an interminably slow global economic recovery. However, a fresh and challenging impetus is about to be given to international road safety management following the publication of a new quality management
  • US road safety challenge to tackle fatalities
    July 26, 2017
    Rising traffic fatalities and the challenges of driverless cars were the focus of recent hearing of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit in the US. Nearly 35,100 people were killed on US roadways in 2015, a 7.2% spike in traffic fatalities from the previous year. This was rather worryingly, largest single year percent increase in 50 years, according to testimony at the hearing. Officials said preliminary numbers appear to show that roadway fatalities increased further in 2016. “In addition to the
  • Let’s go party
    October 3, 2018
    Some friends in the US decided to turn a toy Barbie Mustang car into something rather more entertaining. The men fitted a Honda motorcycle engine and new driveline components, including go-kart tyres. This allowed a top speed of 115km/h, which it could reach in just six seconds, making it rather lively and spirited and also difficult to control. The vehicle is definitely not likely to be made road legal any time soon and nor is a model with a similar performance ever likely to be available from the original