N.J. Exempts Two-Way Radios From Ban on Driving Using Handheld Devices

This story appears in the July 26 print edition of Transport Topics.

Truckers in New Jersey using two-way radios are now exempted from the state’s ban on driving while using handheld communication devices.

Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a bill July 6 that exempts truckers from the New Jersey statute that prohibits text messaging or talking on cell phones while driving.

Unlike some other states, when New Jersey adopted its legislation in 2007 banning “handheld” communication devices it did not provide specific exemptions for trucker radio devices, said Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association.

“The intention never was to eliminate CBs,” Toth said. But a subsequent legal opinion said the ban was inclusive of all handheld devices, meaning truckers had to obtain a legislative exemption for CBs and other two-way radio communication devices, she said.

Few truckers currently depend on CBs for communication, but keeping the option open is a safety issue, Toth said.

“We had the experience of 9/11 and the cell towers went down so you couldn’t communicate by cell phone,” she said.

CBs depend on a low-technology model that is not crippled in a disaster, Toth said.

“There’s enough of them out there,” she said of CBs, so “if you need that low-tech communication, you’ve got it on the trucks.”

Distracted driving legislation varies from state to state, with some banning cell phone use while driving and others banning only texting while driving.

Some states ban both practices but, in some cases, only for teen drivers, not adults.

Eight states and the District of Columbia, however, have adopted legislation that is the most inclusive because the statutes use the term “handheld” communication devices and cover all drivers, regardless of age.

According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Administration, the eight states are: New Jersey, California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.

Of those states, most include exemptions for truckers. Maryland is such an example.

It adopted a ban this year on using “handheld’’ devices while driving. The ban, which takes effect in October, has an exemption for truckers to use CBs and other two-way radios, such as the newer, push-to-talk

direct communication devices sometimes called direct-connect.

Obtaining the exemption, said Louis Campion, president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association, was the most important item on the association’s legislative agenda this year.

Washington state has a ban on using handheld “wireless” devices while driving, but exempts “for-hire operators” who are talking to dispatchers on a device “permanently affixed to the vehicle,” such as a CB or hands free phone.

Truck drivers in Oregon may have the broadest exemption contained in any distracted driving law.

“We made sure they could use virtually anything . . . anytime,” said Robert Russell, president of the Oregon Trucking Associations.

That means that under Oregon state law, adopted in 2009, truckers can send text messages or talk on cell phones while driving, Russell said.

For the most part, however, Oregon’s trucking companies have work rules that forbid the drivers to text or use cell phones while driving, Russell said.

New Jersey was one of the first states, along with New York, to tackle the distracted driving issue, Toth said. New Jersey’s legislation, however, has evolved over the years since its first version was passed in 2004.

That first statute, which addressed only cell phones while driving, allowed police to ticket drivers talking on cell phones only if they were stopped for another offense.

In November 2007, however, the state adopted a much stricter measure that took effect in March 2008 and made texting or talking on a cell phone a primary offense.

That means police can stop and ticket a driver seen texting or talking on a cell phone while driving.