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Feds Can't Enforce Distracted-Driving Regulations

A gap in regulatory powers means no federal agency can regulate behind-the-wheel use of mobile devices.

By Claire_Martin May 9, 2012 10:41AM
Audi A6 photo by Audi.Tamping down on cell-phone use while driving has been a priority for the Transportation Department, but there's a catch: The department doesn't have the authority to enforce the regulations it institutes. Neither does any other federal agency. 
 
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulates vehicle equipment, but not mobile devices. The Federal Communications Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission oversee the mobile phones themselves, but their powers don't extend to unsafe use of the devices in cars.
 
"There is actually a regulatory doughnut hole,"  NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said, according to Autonews. "We have all different safety authorities, but none of them deal with a mobile phone that effectively becomes motor-vehicle equipment but isn't natively motor-vehicle equipment."
 
As carmakers increasingly focus on developing in-car technologies, questions are arising as to who will regulate bells and whistles such as phone-docking stations and control applications that use a car's buttons and screens. And if hand-held devices and in-car technologies aren't regulated with equal vigor, the discrepancy could cause drivers to hit their mobile devices even harder. As Strickland put it, "You may inadvertently make people more reliant on their hand-helds." 
 
Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia have instituted bans against texting while driving, but recommendations like the one NHTSA has made against the use of Web browsers in vehicles are just that: recommendations. 

The NHTSA studying the effects of cell-phone use while driving, but without any authority to institute regulations, it's unclear what the agency will do when it releases the results next year. 
"[Safety regulators] can only badger and cajole at this point," Roger Lanctot, technology analyst with Strategy Analytics, said in a Autonews interview. In order to get more authority, "they would need some legislative cover."
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2Comments
The Beltway
May 11, 2012 4:11PM
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Good, keep the feds out of it and let the states decide for themselves.  A one-size-fits-all approach isn't the answer.
556V
May 16, 2012 6:12AM
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The Feds can't enforce distracted driving regulations?  No surprise there since they can't seem to enforce SEC regulations, illegal immigration regulations, EPA regulations, etc.  About the only thing they seem to enforce is IRS regulations against the common person.  When it comes to tax collection, beat up the average Joe instead of going after GE. 
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