CELL PHONES BAN * Canada & USA - All Canadian provinces now ban hand-held phones while driving

Each of Canada’s 10 provinces has enacted bans on the use of hand-held electronic devices while driving

Fredericton,New Brunswick,Canada -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -18 March 2011: -- New Brunswick will be the last province to begin enforcing a ban on the use of hand-held electronic devices while driving once enforcement begins April 1...  The ban applies to the handling or manipulation of hand-held cell phones, texting devices and portable entertainment devices while driving. It also prohibits the manual programming of GPS units while driving...  TVs, monitors, DVD players and computer screens will not be permitted in New Brunswick “within the visual range of the operator or driver of a motor vehicle,” according to information released by the New Brunswick Department of Public Safety. Violators will be subject to fines of $172.50 plus three penalty points on a driver’s license...

* USA - Technology solving cell-phone truck use dilemma

Washington,DC,USA -Fleet Owner, by Wendy Leavitt -Mar 18, 2011: -- Last December, Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood, proposed banning interstate bus and truck drivers from using handheld cell phones while operating a vehicle. Meanwhile, the number of productivity apps that can be loaded onto cell phones just keeps mushrooming—leaving fleets to seriously wonder how viable an IT platform cell phones will be for trucking business solutions down the road...  However, it may not be time to hang up on cell phones in trucks. Thanks to some enterprising new solution providers, it may be possible to take advantage of the benefits of mobile communication devices without risking a fleet’s safety rating in the process...  The availability of various technologies to restrict and track in-vehicle use of mobile devices is likely to continue to expand right along with the growth in the functionality and use of mobile devices themselves...  Think about how the number of active and passive onboard safety systems has grown in an effort to make the business of hauling freight by truck safer and more efficient. Cell phone usage control and tracking systems are the data corollary—tools to make the task of sharing information safer for those moving goods and people down the highway...