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Toolbox talk · 10 min · Driving & Vehicles

Distracted Driving

Hazards: Run-off-road or rear-end crash while the driver's eyes are off the road · Vehicle drifting into a work zone and striking workers on foot · Struck-by while walking a jobsite or a shoulder looking at a phone · Dispatch or scheduling pressure that pushes drivers to answer while moving

Why it matters

In 2024, 3,208 people were killed and an estimated 315,167 injured in crashes involving distracted drivers, and 639 of the dead were pedestrians, cyclists and other people outside a vehicle — NHTSA, Distracted Driving in 2024. On August 2, 2024, a crew was standing in a highway work zone talking about the next phase of work when a driver who was inattentive or asleep veered off the road, struck traffic cones and killed a worker, then drove off (OSHA Accident Summary Nr 171014.015). Half this talk is about how we drive. The other half is about the drivers we cannot control.

Key points

  • Three kinds of distraction, one bad outcome. OSHA names them: visual (eyes off the road), manual (hands off the wheel), cognitive (mind off the task). Texting is all three at once.
  • Texting in a CMV is a federal violation. 49 CFR 392.80 — no driver shall engage in texting while driving, and no carrier shall allow or require it.
  • So is the hand-held phone. 49 CFR 392.82. And "driving" includes sitting at a light or stopped in traffic. It ends only when you have pulled off and parked somewhere safe.
  • Hands-free is not attention-free. The cognitive part does not go away because the phone is in a cradle. A conversation still takes a share of the road.
  • Phones are not the only ones. NHTSA counts eating, passengers, the radio and the climate controls too. Set the route, the temperature and the music before you move.
  • The company owns the pressure. OSHA 3416 tells employers to write procedures and rules that do not make it necessary to text while driving, and to say when and where drivers may use a phone.
  • Build the site for the driver who is not looking. Cones and a vest are not a barrier. Advance warning, buffer space and an escape route are what stop a drifting car from reaching you.

Do / Don't

Do

  • Set the route, the radio and the vents before you shift out of park.
  • Let it ring and call back from the next safe pull-off.
  • Keep a hand free and eyes up walking through a live site.
  • Back your crew when they refuse to answer while moving.

Don't

  • Read or send anything while the wheels are turning.
  • Answer a hand-held phone sitting at a light in a CMV.
  • Assume approaching drivers see you because you have a vest on.
  • Send a message to someone you know is behind the wheel.

Quick site check

  • Agree today's rule out loud: nobody on this crew answers a phone while a vehicle is moving.
  • Name the safe pull-off points on today's route and haul road.
  • Look at our work area from the driver's seat of an approaching car: what warns them, and how far back?
Discussion — ask the crew
  1. When dispatch calls you at 60 mph, what do you actually do — and what do you wish the rule was?
  2. What is the longest you have gone without looking at the road, and what pulled your eyes away?
  3. Which stretch of our route or our site is the worst place to be reading anything?
  4. If you needed to answer a message right now, where is the nearest safe place to pull off?
  5. Who here has been the pedestrian a distracted driver nearly hit on a jobsite or a shoulder?
Refs: NHTSA — Distracted Driving in 2024 (DOT HS 813 790, April 2026): 3,208 killed, ~315,167 injured, 8% of fatal crashes, 639 nonoccupants · OSHA — Motor Vehicle Safety: Distracted Driving (visual, manual and cognitive distraction) · OSHA 3416-09R (2021) — Keep Drivers Safe: employer policy and work procedures that do not make texting necessary · 49 CFR 392.80 — No CMV driver shall engage in texting while driving; no carrier shall allow or require it · 49 CFR 392.82 — Hand-held mobile telephones prohibited in a CMV, including while temporarily stopped in traffic · OSHA Accident Search — Summary Nr 171014.015, 08/02/2024 (worker killed in a work zone by an inattentive driver)Sign-in sheet included in the printed version

Frequently asked questions

NHTSA's research note Distracted Driving in 2024 (DOT HS 813 790, April 2026) reports 3,208 people killed and an estimated 315,167 injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes involving distracted drivers. Eight percent of fatal crashes were reported as distraction-affected, and 639 of the dead were nonoccupants — pedestrians, cyclists and people on foot.

OSHA groups them three ways: visual, when the driver takes their eyes off the direction of travel; manual, when one or both hands leave the wheel; and cognitive, when the driver's mind leaves the driving task. NHTSA adds that distraction is not only phones — eating, passengers, the radio and climate controls all qualify. Texting is the one that hits all three at once.

For commercial motor vehicle drivers, yes. 49 CFR 392.80 says no driver shall engage in texting while driving and no motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to do so. It applies while temporarily stationary in traffic or at a light — driving only stops when you have pulled off and halted somewhere the vehicle can safely stay.

49 CFR 392.82 bans hand-held mobile telephones while driving a CMV; hands-free operation that does not require holding the device is not prohibited by that section. The emergency exception in both rules is narrow: contacting law enforcement or other emergency services.

Not directly — 392.80 and 392.82 are written for commercial motor vehicles. But almost every state regulates phone use behind the wheel, and OSHA's employer guidance (OSHA 3416) tells employers to have a policy prohibiting portable electronic devices while driving and to establish work procedures and rules that do not make it necessary to text while driving. On most sites the contract makes the rule for everyone.

The employer's, first. OSHA 3416 puts it on the business to set procedures, times and places for drivers to use phones to reach managers and customers — not on the driver to solve at 60 mph. If the schedule only works when someone answers while moving, the schedule is the hazard.

The distracted driver is often someone else's. On August 2, 2024, a crew was standing in a highway work zone discussing the next phase of work when a driver who was inattentive or had fallen asleep veered off the road, hit several cones and killed a worker before fleeing (OSHA Accident Summary Nr 171014.015). Your setup has to assume a driver is not looking.

Same principle, less horsepower. A phone in your hand on a live site means you are the one who does not see the truck backing, the load swinging or the trench edge. Walk to a safe spot, then read it.

Sources & references

Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 28, 2026.

Results are estimates for planning purposes and do not replace a competent person's evaluation or an engineer's design. Follow the OSHA standards that apply to your work and your employer's written program.

By — Editorial team of SteelToeTools.com (published by LSEA SAS) Updated