Commercial bus and truck drivers will be banned from texting while driving under new federal guidelines U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood issued today. Effective immediately, these drivers could face civil and criminal penalties, including fines up to $2,750, if caught violating the texting while driving prohibition. "This is an important safety step and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving," Secretary LaHood said in a statement released by the Department of Transportation.

The statement explains the decision to outlaw texting while driving commercial vehicles as the Department's interpretation of standing rules. "We want to make it crystal clear to operators and their employers that texting while driving is the type of unsafe activity that these regulations are intended to prohibit," Anne Ferro, Administor for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said in the statment. According to the FCMSA, texting drivers take their eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds out of every six.

Secretary LaHood told reporters, "This guidance has far-reaching implications for inter-state drivers who carry cargo or passengers for a living.  Today we’re sending a strong message: We don’t merely EXPECT you to share the road responsibly with other travelers – we REQUIRE you to do so."  He also referenced the study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Insititute, which found that truck drivers who texted behind the wheel were 23 times more likely to crash those who did not.

Clearly, Secretary LaHood has decided that distracted driving deserves more attention and more immediate action than it is currently receiving - a bill to legislate texting behind the wheel nationwide is currently tied up in Congress, and less than half of all states have specific prohibitions on texting while driving.  Now, the next big question: how will he enforce it?  Concerned drivers can easily take the intiative and ensure their own compliance with ZoomSafer's innovative safe driving software.  Hopefully, commercial truck and bus companies will likewise be proactive in their approach and protect their employees from both nasty accidents and hefty fines by implementing cell phone use policies in line with federal regulations.