WASHINGTON—The perils of distraction are top of mind for transportation experts. Distracted driving is one of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s hallmark platforms, and almost every state now has some form of driver cell phone and texting ban.
The problem isn’t only on land, though.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently released its findings, probable cause and final safety recommendations following the 2009 San Diego Bay collision between a Coast Guard vessel and a passenger boat that killed an 8-year-old boy. The board found the Coast Guard to blame—they were going too fast and national and local Coast Guard oversight was inadequate.
The agency reported last summer that one Coast Guard crewman sent and received at least six text messages in the 10 to 15 minutes before the collision. However, the cell phone company had provided the board call times in the wrong time zone, and the NTSB subsequently issued a correction.
Still, board members discussed at length the use of cell phones aboard the patrol boat. Investigators said while cell phone use and texting didn’t cause the accident, crew members were, in fact, using their personal cell phones on board prior to the collision and that distraction meant they weren’t fulfilling their lookout duties.
NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said the board volleyed the issue because problems with distraction have appeared in multiple accidents.
“Really identifying the role that distraction plays in transportation is important,” Hersman said in an interview following the board meeting, “and it needs to be acknowledged, and it needs to be acknowledged in the proper way, when we conduct accident investigations.”
Only two of the five crew members aboard the Coast Guard vessel agreed to be interviewed. While investigators ascertained some crew members were using personal cell phones for texting, the nature of the messages is unknown because cell phone providers would not release text message transcripts.
Board members debated one of the 15 findings in the investigation and agreed to add three paragraphs that would state, for the record, the crew was distracted by their phones.
That finding now includes three paragraphs, per the suggestion of board member Earl Weener, and includes this acknowledgment: “Records indicate that the [Coast Guard] crew members used their personal cellular phones for voice calls and text messaging while underway, distracting them from effectively performing their duties as lookouts.”
Consistency was key for Hersman and the board. It was a reason the board decided against including “potentially” before “distracting.”
The Coast Guard enacted a no-cell phone policy in July 2010, following the initial NTSB findings. The rule prohibits the use of cell phones and texting devices aboard unless authorized by the coxswain. At no time will the operator of the boat use a cell phone or texting device, it adds.
Spokesman Lt. Paul D. Rhynard said in an email that no accidents involving cell phone use have been reported in the Coast Guard accident report database, which records details of accident and any related safety investigations.
“Other than that, we’d have to survey each unit commander to determine if they’ve caught anyone using their cell phone,” he said.
Capt. Tuuli Messer-Bookman, marine transportation professor at California Maritime Academy, said effectiveness of newly-implemented rules prohibiting cell phones are hard to measure because accidents have a number of variables. “Most casualties are not caused by a single catastrophic event, but by a string of often small events linked in time,” she said.
The commercial maritime world follows what experts call “the rules of the road,” overall regulations that make early mention of a lookout’s responsibility, said Capt. Sam Teel, marine transportation professor at Maine Maritime Academy.
“It really is just a couple sentences, but it’s pretty clear,” he said, “All vessels shall at all times maintain a proper lookout, by sight as well as hearing.” Companies could underscore those guidelines further if they wanted.
There is no explicit regulation against cell phone use on commercial maritime vessels. “I think everybody’s leery of making a rule that’s not enforceable,” Teel said. “This is a case of us policing ourselves.”
Meanwhile, the Ship Operations Cooperative Program, an organization of maritime colleges and shipping companies that aims to improve the safety and efficiency of U.S. vessel operation, last month released a statement on distraction, outlining suggestions on how to reduce risk if using personal electronic devices on the job.
“Recognize that vessel operation requires your full attention,” it says. “Use personal electronic devices only if and when it is absolutely necessary and only in accordance with policies established for your company/vessel.
“Inform the person you are calling that you are conducting vessel operations and can only discus immediate, critical issues.”
With the protracted debate, NTSB Chairman Hersman said the board hoped to again stress how cell phones are a veritable distraction.
“We know that talking on the phone or texting can be distracting, whether you’re driving a car, you’re taxiing in an airplane,” she said, “or you’re the lookout on a vessel.”