NEW YORK-With support of the industry it oversees, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission unanimously approved May 20 a regulation to restrict the use of cellular phones by cab drivers while their vehicles are in motion.
The commission drafted the regulation earlier this spring in response to numerous complaints from passengers in some of the automobiles operated by the more than 90,000 yellow cab, car service and limousine drivers in the city, Diane McGrath-McKechnie, TLC chairwoman, said.
The new rule, which is expected to become effective by early July, requires these drivers to pull over to the curb and be legally parked before using their cellular phones.
The ban on dialing and talking while driving allows exceptions for drivers who need to report an emergency they experience or witness. Furthermore, it does not apply to taxi drivers’ use of their dispatch radios.
“The TLC has received a ton of complaints from passengers that a driver was talking on the cell phone when they got into the cab and still talking on the phone when they got out of the cab,” McGrath-McKechnie said during an April meeting of the commission. “If you’re driving with one hand and talking on a cell phone with the other, your eyes are not on the road.”
