To avoid car accidents, more companies move to ban employees from using cellphones while driving

Tuesday, 02 June 2009

New York auto accident lawyers have long known that sending text messages while driving is one of the surest ways to increase the risk of a car accident. Now, according to the Boston Globe, some companies are finally catching on as well, implementing policies to bar employees from using their cellphones while on the road to reduce the number of car accidents their employees are involved in.

The  Globe's article comes in the wake of the Boston trolley accident that injured 49 people after the driver ran a red light while texting on his cellphone. The very next day the transit authority banned its drivers from even carrying a cellphone or any other electronic device.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is hardly the first employer to recognize the risks of using a cellphone while driving. According to the Globe, one of the first was AMEC, an engineering firm which instituted a cellphone ban back in 2005.

In a policy that most New York City auto accident attorneys would approve of, AMEC encourages its workers to pull their cars over to a safe area before taking a call or sending a text. The ban on driving while using a cellphone is peer-enforced, with colleagues scolding those who they suspect of violating the ban.

New York auto accident lawyers already know what Workers Comp Insider stresses about these policies: they help keep the roads safe while potentially lowering the cost of insurance for the employers that institute them. These are sensible policies that every company that has employees who use cars or trucks at work ought to implement.

Of course, no one should be talking on a cellphone or, even worse, texting while driving. Workers Comp Insider has put together a list of tips (near the bottom of the post) to help people quit this dangerous habit. It is worth a look to anyone who finds they cannot resist making a call or sending a message while in the driver's seat.

[ Boston Globe via Workers Comp Insider]