News

DOT Bans Cell Phones in Commercial Motor Vehicals!


Dated: Dec 13, 2011

US DOT Issues Final Rule Banning Cell Phone Use by CMV Drivers
FMCSA and PHMSA issued a final rule that restricts the use of hand-­‐held mobile telephones by interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers (CMV) and intrastate hazmat drivers. The rule does not restrict or prohibit the use of hands-­‐free devices. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on December 2nd, 2011 and will take effect on January 2nd, 2012.

The final rule prohibits CMV drivers from holding, dialing, or reaching for a hand-­‐ held cellular phone. This includes all push-­to-­talk functions. Hands-­free use of a cellular phone is allowed. The ban does not prohibit or restrict the use of Citizen Band Radios, GPS, or fleet management systems.

Dialing -­‐ As defined by FMCSA, a driver is allowed to initiate, answer, or terminate a call by touching a single button on a mobile telephone or on a headset. This action should not require the driver to take his or her eyes off the road.

Reaching -­‐ FMCSA banned reaching for a cellular phone or hands-­‐free device that is done in "an unacceptable and unsafe manner." Examples of this behavior would be reaching for a cellular phone on the passenger seat, under the driver's seat, or into the sleeper berth. To be in compliance with the rule, a driver must have a cellular phone and/or hands-­‐free device within "close proximity" to his or her person.

Driver and Motor Carrier Penalties -­‐ Under the final rule, CMV drivers who are convicted of a hand-­‐held cell violation twice within a three year period will be disqualified for 60 days. If convicted for a third violation within three years the driver will be disqualified for 120 days. Drivers will be subject to federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense. Motor carriers that allow their drivers to use hand-­‐held cell phones while operating a commercial motor vehicle face a maximum civil penalty of $11,000 per violation.>

Employer Liability -­‐ Within the language of the rule, FMCSA states that "no motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to use a hand-­‐held mobile telephone while driving a CMV." In the preamble, FMCSA interprets the regulatory language to mean that motor carriers are responsible for the actions of its drivers, regardless of whether or not such actions are sanctioned by the motor carrier. FMCSA will hold employers accountable if the employee was doing his or her job, carrying out company business, or otherwise acting on the employer's behalf when a violation occurs.>
Exemptions -­‐ The law also allows hand-­held cell phone use by drivers for emergency purposes. Diga-Talk is an exempt 2-way device under the ruling.
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Diga-Talk Launches Commercial Service!
By A Beep, LLC

Dated: Nov 10, 2009

Diga-Talk launches commercial radio service in the greater Chicago Metropolitan Area.
A Beep, LLC of Joliet Illinois has announced the commercial launch of Diga-Talk. Diga-Talk is an all-digital 2-way communications network for business. Businesses owners have been searching for many years for the right communication tool to communicate with and operate their business effectively and economically. Business owners with employees traveling throughout a wide-area know the problems associated with communicating with their people. Many owners have equipped their people with cellular
phones, but the phones themselves create many problems for most users. Businesses that dispatch service calls to medium and large fleets are unable to talk to all of their people at the same time with a cellular phone. Many times they find that the person they need to talk with is busy talking to someone else on their phone. Cellular phones are also prone to abuse where employees often use them to talk to friends and relatives during working hours, all at the business owner’s expense.

Historically businesses that needed the ability to talk to all of their field units simultaneously used some type of 2-way radio system. Even though these expensive 2-way radios communicated over many miles they still lacked the wide-area regional coverage needed by most growing businesses. These older radios required too much operator intervention, had many locations were they were “out of range” and could be
easily overheard by competitors with radio scanners.

Here comes Diga-Talk, a new revolutionary tool that fixes these problems. Diga-Talk is a wide-area all-digital secure communication network for business. This easy-to-use Diga-Talk unit provides instant communications only to other properly programmed Diga-Talk units. It can be programmed for group calls to talk to all of the Diga-Talk units in the company at the same time or it is able to make private one-to-one private direct calls.

Unlike previous 2-way radios, Diga-Talk is completely automatic as it roams throughout the coverage area.The Diga-Talk subscriber unit automatically uses one of the closest communications towers that blanket the region. The Diga-Talk unit can be equipped with automatic vehicle location that utilizes GPS. The GPS is able to report the Diga-Talk location and other events that occur such as a door opening and closing on a
vehicle. Diga-Talk can be vehicle mounted, set-up as a dedicated office base station and available in a hand-held walkie-talkie style unit.

Diga-Talk subscriber unit utilizes Nexedge NXDN digital technology and equipment distributed by Kenwood U.S.A. Corporation. The Diga-Talk system in the Chicago Metropolitan area is currently the largest system of its kind in the world.