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Zero Cell Phone Use While Driving Policy
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Your employer should enact a "Zero Cell Phone Use While Driving" policy. Such a policy should consider the following elements:
1. Require that employees pull over at the next available safe stop to return a work call.
2. Never initiate a call while the car is moving.
3. Never look up a number or dial information while driving.
4. Ban text messaging while driving.
Such a policy should state that any employee who, on work time, talks on a cell phone while driving will be subject to discipline, regardless of whether the employee has an accident.
If you employer feels that it must maintain instant connectivity with its employees, it could provide all employees with a "hands-free" cell phone device to facilitate safe driving. But the hands-free solution may only slightly diminish the risk of an accident while driving, since focusing on the conversation, especially a stressful one, diverts attention away from driving onto the subject at hand. So if hands-free phones are furnished, in addition to items 2, 3, and 4, the policy should consider:
5. Never use the cell phone in bad weather or heavy traffic.
6. Always keep your eyes on the road, and drop the call if you need to focus on your driving.
Comments
The issue is not one of dexterity but of where the mind and attention is. all of us can easily hold a cell phone and a sandwich and drink at the same time. A hands free device does not help because our mind is not on driving. David Sneed www.mbsinstitute.org
In Washington, it's against the law to use your cell with your hands while driving. You won't get pulled over for it per se, but if you're pulled over for a traffic violation AND the cop saw that you were using the phone with your hands, you get an additional fine for it. In California, they just pull you over if they just see you not using a hands-free device.
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OliviaB.
San Francisco lawyer
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