The examples of why it's dangerous to text and drive are piling up like, well, a pile-up.
Last year,
a commuter train driver in Los Angeles sent a text message just before smashing into another train, ending the lives of 25 passengers and injuring another 135. Earlier this year in March, a 59-year-old from Berea, Ohio, was walking in a crosswalk in Cleveland, when
a bus seemed to come out from nowhere.
He was killed, and it was determined that the driver had been on her cell phone. The investigation hasn't made it clear if she was texting or talking, but her track record isn't looking so good -- it was the second time in three years that she had hit a pedestrian.
And one evening last May, a 24-year-old trolley car operator was texting his girlfriend when he crashed into another trolley. Fortunately, nobody died or sustained life-threatening injuries, but the hospital soon had an extra 49 guests.
As if business owners didn't have anything else to worry about -- the recession, for instance -- those who have drivers have been able to fret about something else: texting while driving while working.
Because right or wrong, if you have an employee who is texting while behind the wheel, and something does go wrong, you know that -- legally speaking -- you and everyone else at your company might as well be right beside him. But since I'm not a lawyer, and pretty much just know what I know from watching a lot of
Law & Order, I sought out some insight from David M. Felper, a litigation, labor and employment attorney at
Bowditch & Dewey in Worcester, Massachusetts.
"The short answer," said Felper, in an email, "is that an employer could be responsible, largely depending on whether there were similar prior incidents with the same employee that could lead to a negligent hiring, retention or supervision claim, and the policies (and discipline for violations) and training put in place by an employer regarding such conduct. This would be relevant to a negligence claim. Injuries to the employee would be covered by workers comp, regardless of fault."
So there you go. If you warn and cajole and beg your employee not to text while driving, it sounds like you're probably safe. If you don't, and if you know a driver is texting and ignore it, then have fun in court.
Fortunately, soon, you may be able to do more than warn your employees and keep your fingers crossed that they listen to you. Just as technology got us into this texting while driving mess, it may get us out.
There are actually some technological devices that will soon be on the market, that are designed to prevent texting while driving. Generally, these devices have been created with parents in mind -- parents who have kids can make it clear they're going to use this technology or forget the cell phone or car or both -- but at least one coming out is specifically for the boss-employee relationship.
Here's what will be on the market soon.
Product: Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist, created by Aegis Mobility and the insurance company, Nationwide.
What it does: Detects the onset of driving. Anyone who calls the person who subscribes to the service will hear a voice mail, letting them know that that person is driving and can't talk right now.
When it's likely to be on the market: 2010, Nationwide hopes.
Product: iZUP, so new that we have to give you
its Twitter web page instead of their real one,
www.getiZUP.com, which, as of this writing, isn't functioning yet.
What it does: It's a mobile application that puts mobile phones into a protection mode when a car moves over a pre-set speed, which is detected using GPS technology.
When it's in this mode, the driver can't text until he or she stops the car or slows down. As with the Aegis, the driver apparently can't answer the phone either, which may or may not be seen as a problem.
When it's likely to be on the market: Late September or early October.
Product: CellControl and CellControlPro, for corporate fleet managers
What it does: This could work well for employers. CellControl plugs directly into the vehicle's on-board computer and pairs to the driver's phone using Bluetooth connectivity and a downloadable phone application. From there on, the driver can't send email or texts or make or receive calls, except for 911 and a few other user-programmed numbers. That is, they can't do it when the vehicle is going over one-mile per hour. But it's also customizable, so the user can program the device to prevent only texting but allow calls and/or email.
CellControlPro is much of the same thing, with some extra bells and whistles, like the ability to monitor the vehicle's average speed and to measure the time spent in the car or truck.
When it's likely to be on the market: As early as the end of September. They're still in the beta testing stage, and if you're interested in participating, you can if you contact Sean Brown at
information@cellcontrol.com by Friday, September 11, or sign up at the company website at
www.cellcontrol.com.
Whatever happens, technology -- and increasingly the law -- will eventually be on your side. You may not be able to make an employee stop texting and driving, but you can make it as difficult as possible for them to do both. And, of course, stopping your staff from doing it may be as simple as offering them simple logic. It's dangerous.
"Texting is as equally difficult as driving," says author Christine Louise Holhbaum, who addresses the myth of multitasking in her upcoming book
The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World (St. Martins, 2009). "Either you are concentrating on driving or texting -- not both."
