Regulations for Viewing and the use of Technology

Sections 392.80 and 392.82 prohibit texting and the defined use of a hand-held mobile telephone. The controlling definitions in 390.5T do not create a general “do not touch or look at a phone” rule. On the facts alone, a CMV driver could hold a smartphone while watching video, viewing photographs, playing a game, or using another non-texting application without clearly meeting either specific prohibition. CVSA recognized the resulting enforcement inconsistency in 2025. Operational Policy 15 now directs inspectors to cite 390.17 when a driver is viewing media, images, video, or other content while operating a CMV, while excluding navigation systems, ELDs, vehicle systems, and other safety technologies. That direction creates a uniform interim citation, but § 390.17 does not expressly prohibit viewing media. It is written as a conditional permission concerning additional equipment and accessories that do not decrease the safety of the vehicles on which they are used.

Operational Policy 15 improves consistency and data collection, but it does not resolve three legal questions: whether a driver’s personal smartphone is “additional equipment” or an “accessory” used on the CMV; whether 390.17’s savings-clause wording creates an affirmative offense; and whether merely viewing content proves that safety decreased when no effect on vehicle operation was observed. FMCSA temporarily used 390.17 to address texting in 2010, before 392.80 existed, but limited that guidance to texting and said broader electronic-device use should be addressed through notice-and-comment rulemaking. Section 390.5T(2)(iii) also expressly recognizes non-prohibited uses of multifunction devices, including smartphones. In contrast, FMCSA amended 393.3 in 2013 to add an express affirmative prohibition against using equipment or accessories in a manner that decreases safety, but it did not make the same textual change to 390.17. The present approach therefore risks rejected citations, inconsistent adjudication, unreliable data, and continued uncertainty concerning dangerous visual device use.

Request that the Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee, in coordination with the Policy and Regulatory Affairs Committee: 1. Petition FMCSA to initiate rulemaking for a clear, technology-neutral prohibition against viewing video, media, games, and other non-operational visual content while driving a CMV, with defined exceptions for navigation, ELDs, vehicle systems, safety technologies, emergency use, and other necessary operational functions. 2. Ask FMCSA to align 390.5T, 392.80, and 392.82 with the new provision and establish a distinct, uniform violation description and data category so inspectors, prosecutors, courts, and motor carriers apply and track the rule consistently.