PHMSA issues final rule on texting while driving

Drivers hauling hazmat subject to new final rule

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) issues a new final rule the that mirrors a ruling by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for texting while driving.

PHMSA's final rule on limiting use of electronic devices

   The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is prohibiting texting on electronic devices by drivers during the operation of a
motor vehicle containing a quantity of hazardous materials requiring placarding or any quantity of a select agent or toxin listed in the Department
of Health and Human Services ``Select Agents and Toxins'' regulations. Additionally, in accordance with requirements adopted on
September 27, 2010 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), motor carriers are prohibited from requiring or allowing drivers
of covered motor vehicles to engage in texting while driving. This rulemaking improves the health and safety on the Nation's highways by
reducing the prevalence of distracted driving-related crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving drivers of commercial motor vehicles.

   The new regulation will go into part 177 Carriage by Public Highway section. Here is the text from the new final rule.

Sec.  177.804  Compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Regulations.

    (a) General. * * *
    (b) Prohibition against texting. In accordance with Sec.  392.80 of 
the FMCSRs a person transporting a quantity of hazardous materials 
requiring placarding under 49 CFR part 172 or any quantity of a 
material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR part 73 may not 
engage in, allow, or require texting while driving.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 17, 2011, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR part 106.

The new ruling takes effect on March 30, 2011