Dept of Transportation Proposes New Anti-Texting Rule

The Transportation Department is holding a day-long distracted driving summit in Washington during which Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the agency will implement a new rule that would ban commercial truck drivers from texting while transporting hazardous materials.

Two rules Sec LaHood announced at a similar summit last year have now become law. The rules ban commercial bus and truck drivers from texting on the job and restrict train operators from using wireless devices while driving. The Department of Transportation also announced nearly 1,600 U.S. companies and organizations, covering 10.5 million workers, have signed on to a program aimed at persuading private firms and groups to implement policies that discourage distracted driving. Another 550 organizations have agreed to adopt distracted driving policies in the next year that cover 1.5 million additional U.S. workers, the department said in a news release.