The vast majority of us would agree that texting while driving is a huge distraction and it creates an unnecessary danger to everyone on the nation’s roadways. At the present time, nineteen states, the District of Columbia and Guam have completely banned drivers from sending or receiving text messages while driving. Other states limit novice drivers from being allowed to text while driving. The United States Government has also chimed in on the dangers of texting while driving. On January 26, 2010 the United States Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a federal ban on texting for commercial truck drivers. The national ban is the result of a national summit convened last year on the issue of distracted driving. As a result of the ban, any commercial bus or truck driver caught texting while driving will face civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, according to personal injury attorney Emery Ledger with the California law firm of Ledger & Associates. While the DOT’s efforts are to be applauded, they may fall short of covering the most dangerous “drivers” of all. With most states moving toward banning, or at least restricting, the use of cell phones and specifically texting with a cell phone and the United States government banning truckers and commercial bus drivers from text messaging while driving, you may think that the bases are covered. But what about all the other commercial “drivers”? What about cruise ship captains? Charter boat captains? Train engineers? Subway conductors? Neither state governments nor the federal government has yet to address any of these “drivers”, yet they have the potential to cause the most harm, says personal injury attorney Emery Ledger. He should know – his firm Ledger & Associates is representing one of the seriously injured plaintiff’s in one of the worst train accidents in United States history. The 2008 Chatsworth train collision killed 25 people and seriously injured many more. Results of the National Transportation Safety Board inquiry revealed that the engineer that was responsible for heeding and obeying traffic lights was busy text messaging just seconds before the Metrolink train collided head-on with another train. Had the engineer not been distracted, he may have seen the red light that was on to warn them not to enter that stretch of track. Federal Aviation regulations do prohibit pilots from engaging in any activity not related to flying the plane while in the air, however many pilots don’t appear to heed the rule. Cruise ship and charter boat captains are not prohibited from texting while piloting their vessels, despite the fact that they frequently carry the lives of hundreds, sometimes thousand, of people in their hands. In 2008, Amtrak carried over 27 million passengers during the course of the year. The Metrolink train that collided that same year had 222 passengers aboard. Anyone that is responsible for the lives of that many people should not be allowed, under the law, to engage in any activity that will distract them from driving. “The Metrolink accident never should have happened” says Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates. While we are passing all these laws banning texting and driving, let’s make sure that we include everyone that may be operating a commercial boat, plane, train or anything else that carries passengers and maybe we can avoid another Metrolink disaster. If you would like to speak to Emery Ledger regarding this, or any other subject, please call 1-800-300-0001 or contact him online at www.ledgerlaw.com
