From the category archives:

Regulations

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NTSB Urges Cellphone Ban for All Commercial Drivers

by Douglas Gould on September 14, 2011

Board Urges Cellphone Ban for All Commercial Drivers – NYTimes.com.

NTSB Press Release, re: recommended ban on cellphones

Sometimes, I feel like I’m in an iCockpit instead of the wheelhouse of a towboat. I have an iPhone, an iPad, a large GPS plotter, the radar screen, two VHF radios…. let’s see – oh yeah, I almost forgot; 5 windows.

Earlier this season, I had just cast off from the dock and was heading out toward the channel. Booting the WX radar on the iPad while reading the text message on the iPhone that had all the case data, my attention was focused between the LAT/LON from the text message and watching the cursor on the GPS chartplotter to scroll to those numbers and …. WHOOPS!  REVERSE. Darn near hit a boat. The other vessel was crossing from my port side, and the person at the helm was on the phone. I stopped and then passed behind them, even though they were technically the give way vessel. As far as I could tell, they never did see me.

I count on instant, up-to-date and accurate information to do my job efficiently and competitively. I have to talk to the boater, the dispatcher, and possibly a public agency, (sometimes all at once it seems) all the while I am interacting with the chartplotter and tuning ship’s radar. If it’s raining, I’m also hoping to see the latest NEXRAD radar picture on the iPad. It’s easy to get distracted; insert wavy disolve and play dreamy sequence music

while fumbling for the windshield wiper switch, adjusting the gain and clutter on the radar and swaping the GPS screen to track mode. Oh there’s the phone; hello? while switching to VHF CH22. Yeah, underway: did he say 50 west or 15 west? Avoid that lobster pot. 15 west, got it. Making mental calculation of ETA to go eight miles at twenty-five knots while listening to MARB and changing to longer range on radar – shit there goes my pen – DING incoming text message with vessel discription; press “OK” to read that while adjusting throttles to same RPMs and turning wiper off. Glance at WX radar; looks like that red blob will pass to the north of me. Steer behind stupid guy fishing right in the channel and press trim tab buttons to smooth ride and scan engine gauges; wait, what’s that sailboat doing? Grab mic to update USCG on my revised ETA and attempt to contact casualty directly. Reduce radar to 1.5 mile range. Damn! where did that sailboat come from?  ….

Be careful out there.

 

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Will my prediction come true?

by Douglas Gould on March 8, 2011

Back in August of 2010, I made a prediction [here]:

I’m going on the record now as saying that the USCG will impose some kind of policy restricting the use of cell phones on commercial vessels within 24 months. If we learn that the tugboat driver in Philly who hit that Duck Boat last month was using his cell phone, I predict an outright ban on cell phone use while at the wheel of a tow/tug boat.

This week, the NTSB released a Factual Report of Group Chairman about that incident, and we learn that not only was the Mate of the tugboat talking on his phone at the time of the collision, but the deckhand was using his phone too. (Ed note: to be fair, the Mate was dealing with a serious family emergency, which doesn’t exonerate him, but at least provides us with a context for his distraction; i.e. he wasn’t just having a casual conversation, but was so engrossed in a family emergency that his phone was ringing off the hook that morning, and certainly his mind was not focused on the task of piloting the tug. In hindsight, it would have been good had he informed the Master of his situation, and perhaps asked for some help for this watch that morning.)

Ok- so back in August, I didn’t predict that he was on the phone; my prediction was about the Coast Guard’s response if they learn he was. And now we have. I think from the preliminary facts, it’s reasonable to conclude that the Mate was distracted by his phone calls, and that was a contributing factor to the collision.

So, by March of 2013, I think we will see some kind of official policy or regulation about commercial vessels and cellphone use while on duty in the wheelhouse. I still say they won’t create any policy that affects recreational boaters.

Plenty of news reports are carrying this news, like this one. Search Google News if you want more.

Full list of all NTSB documents pertaining to this incident available here

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Hold the Phone!

A RRR reader asks “What’s the big deal with the USCG using cell phones Doug? Why isn’t that an acceptable way for the CG to communicate with distressed boaters? Why harp so much on this topic?” Good question. First and foremost, the USCG should encourage all vessels to use VHF radios for distress and Mayday [...]

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August 14, 2010 Read the full article →

USA Today re: NTSB & Cell phone distractions

Well, I guess Pandora’s Box is now open. USA Today’s article about yesterday’s NTSB memo states that the NTSB has declared “war” on distracted driving: The crashes prompted the NTSB to open a new front in its war on distracted driving, Chairwoman Debbie Hersman said…. In recent years, the agency has found increasing evidence that [...]

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August 13, 2010 Read the full article →

NTSB urges policy on cell use on Coast Guard boats

I posted a few months ago [here] about the recent studies re: driving and cell phone distractions. When people die, the National Transportation Safety Board likes to do some poking around, and they found an interesting similarity concerning two recent collisions between USCG assets and private boats. Seems the Coasties are on the phone or [...]

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August 11, 2010 Read the full article →

Out of gas brings $2MM towboat to the “rescue”

Oh, boy. Don’t get me started….. Here is a story that might bite the USCG boys in NYC right in the transom. Gee, having some press tag along to promote these brand new (yawn… same twin jet technology I’ve been driving for 8 years) $2 million boats seemed like such a good idea. Yeah, give [...]

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June 2, 2010 Read the full article →

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