Editorial: Cutting drivers’ distractions

Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006 | 7:42 a.m.

F ederal officials are calling for bans that would prohibit bus drivers from talking on cell phones after pinning the blame for a 2004 motor coach crash on the bus driver, who was talking on a hands-free device.

According to a recent story by The New York Times, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that although there is no comprehensive data showing a definitive link between cell phone use and traffic collisions, there is evidence enough to suggest that bus drivers could do well to have one less distraction.

An NTSB official told the Times that professional drivers "who have dozens of passengers' lives entrusted to them should devote their full attention to their task."

Such attention was lacking, the NTSB said, in a 2004 crash in which a motor coach carrying 27 high school students collided with a low-clearance bridge, injuring 11 of the students. Officials said the driver failed to notice the signs warning of the low clearance because he was chatting on a hands-free cell phone device.

The NTSB is calling for federal or state bans on cell phone use among drivers of motor coaches and school buses and also urging all states to use special coding on traffic collision reports to denote when driver distraction, such as cell phone use, is a contributing factor.

We wholeheartedly agree with this approach. Six states already ban cell phone use by school bus drivers, while two others bar drivers of all types of buses from using cell phones.

Locally, the Clark County School District prohibits school bus drivers from using cell phones for any reason while driving their buses. If an emergency arises, the driver must first pull over to a safe location and secure the bus and passengers before making a call. Drivers may not make calls while children are on the bus, even if the bus is parked.

This policy may sound extreme, but it is not too extreme when the safety of dozens of passengers - especially children - is at stake. Cell phones create a distraction that has no place in a traffic environment that often is challenging for even the most experienced professional drivers.