A car driver who glances at a text is dangerous. A truck driver who does it is driving something that weighs as much as a small house, at highway speed, and needs far more room to stop. In the few seconds it takes to read a message, a semi at highway speed covers a long stretch of road with nobody really watching it.
The federal government decided long ago that commercial drivers don't get to take that chance. Most people who are hit by a semi never learn that the rule exists — and that it doesn't stop with the driver.
What the federal rules actually say
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations contain two short, blunt rules.
Under 49 CFR 392.80, no driver shall engage in texting while driving a commercial motor vehicle. "Texting," as defined in 49 CFR 390.5, means manually entering text into, or reading text from, an electronic device.
Under 49 CFR 392.82, no driver shall use a hand-held mobile telephone while driving a commercial motor vehicle. The definition is broader than most people expect. It covers:
- holding a phone with at least one hand to talk;
- dialing or answering by pressing more than a single button; and
- reaching for a phone in a way that takes the driver out of a seated, belted driving position.
There is a narrow exception for contacting law enforcement or emergency services. Checking a dispatch message, scrolling, or answering a personal call is not it.
"He was stopped" and "it was just the GPS": where the line sits
The rule doesn't switch off when the wheels stop. For both the texting rule and the hand-held rule, "driving" includes sitting temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device, or other momentary delays. A trucker who picks up his phone at a red light on Dodge Street, or while traffic crawls through a work zone on I-80, is still driving under these rules. What takes him outside them is pulling to the side of, or off, the highway and halting where the truck can safely stay put.
The texting definition also has carve-outs, and the trucking company's lawyers will know them well. Under 390.5, texting does not include:
- entering, selecting or reading information on a GPS or navigation system;
- pressing a single button to start or end a voice call; or
- using a multi-function device — the regulation names fleet management systems, dispatching devices and smart phones — for a purpose the regulations don't otherwise prohibit.
So "he was looking at the navigation" is a real argument. But it's an argument about facts, and facts can be checked. Which app was open? Was a message typed or opened in the minute before the crash? Was the phone in a mount, or in his hand? The exclusions don't cover a driver who was reading a load update and calls it navigation afterward.
These rules aren't only federal, either. Nebraska has adopted "Part 392 - DRIVING OF COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES" as Nebraska law in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-363, subject to the conditions that statute lists. Nebraska's separate texting law for everyday drivers is a different animal, and I cover it in my post on distracted driving crashes.
The part that reaches the trucking company
Here is the sentence that matters most in a lawsuit. Both rules have a second half: no motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to text or use a hand-held phone while driving.
A general rule backs that up. 49 CFR 390.11 says that whenever the regulations put a duty or a prohibition on a driver, "it shall be the duty of the motor carrier to require observance" of it. The phone ban is a prohibition on the driver. Making drivers follow it is, under the regulations, the carrier's job.
That means the question isn't only "was the driver on his phone?" It is also: Did the company send messages it expected drivers to read while rolling? Did it set delivery windows that made answering dispatch on the move the only way to keep up? Did it have a phone policy, and did anyone enforce it? A trucking company that runs its operation through a driver's phone can't shrug off a crash as one employee's bad choice.
That is a big part of why semi-truck cases so often reach the trucking company itself, not just the person behind the wheel. Distraction is one of the clearest examples.
Why the evidence has to be preserved — fast
Phone use rarely shows up in a police report. It shows up in records: the driver's cell phone carrier records, the company's dispatch and messaging logs, in-cab camera footage, and the truck's electronic data showing speed and braking in the seconds before impact. Put those side by side and a timeline emerges.
Some of that evidence can be overwritten or discarded if no one demands it be kept. That's why the first thing I do in a truck case is send evidence preservation demands to the carrier. The trucking company's own rapid response team is often at the scene within hours, working to protect the company. You deserve someone doing the same for you.
If a distracted truck driver took the life of someone you love, the family's claim is brought through a wrongful death action, and the same evidence decides it.
What each record can show — and what it can't
Phone evidence isn't one thing. Each source answers a different question, and a strong case uses them together.
- Wireless carrier records. These list calls and texts by time, and often data sessions. They can show a message went out at 3:41 p.m. They usually can't tell you which app was open or whether the driver's eyes were on the screen.
- The phone itself. A forensic download of the device can show much more — app activity, when the screen was unlocked, messages drafted but never sent. Getting it normally takes the driver's agreement or a court order. Expect a fight over how much of the phone gets examined, and be ready to ask for a narrow window around the crash instead of everything on it.
- The company's dispatch or fleet messaging system. Many carriers push loads and updates through an in-cab tablet or an app. Its logs can show when a message went to the truck, when it was opened, and whether the driver answered. Ask whether the system locks the screen while the truck is moving — and whether anyone can switch that lock off.
- Driver-facing camera footage. If the cab has an inward camera, it may show the phone itself. That clip is often the most persuasive piece of proof in the file, and the most fragile.
- The truck's own data. Speed and braking in the last seconds don't show a phone. They show what distraction looks like: braking far too late, or not at all.
A hypothetical timeline
Here's how that works on paper. This example is made up — it is not any real crash, case or client.
A semi rear-ends a pickup that slowed for a lane closure on I-80 west of Lincoln. The driver tells the trooper he "never saw" the brake lights. Nobody is cited for phone use. Months later, the records arrive:
- 3:41:02 p.m. — the carrier's dispatch system sends the driver a note about a changed delivery appointment.
- 3:41:20 — the dispatch app logs the note as opened.
- 3:41:38 — the wireless carrier's records show an outgoing text from the driver's personal phone.
- 3:41:44 — the truck's engine data captures a hard-brake event at 63 mph.
None of those entries is an eyewitness. Side by side, they show a driver reading and typing in the seconds before impact — and a company that sent a schedule change to a moving truck. Then the questions turn to the carrier: Did its system know the truck was moving? Has this driver been on his phone at speed before, and did anyone look?
The defenses you'll hear — and the answers
"He was hands-free." Hands-free calling is allowed. But the rule reaches more than holding a phone to your ear. Dialing by pressing more than one button counts. So does reaching for the phone so far that the driver is no longer seated and belted in the driving position. A phone that slid off the dash onto the floorboard is the driver's problem, not his defense.
"The truck was stopped" or "he was checking the GPS." Both are answered above: a momentary stop still counts as driving, and the navigation exclusion turns on what the screen was actually doing.
"We have a strict no-phone policy." Good — ask for a copy. Then ask for the training records, any discipline for phone use, and the dispatch logs. A written rule that nobody enforced, or that dispatch routinely undercut by messaging moving trucks, shows the distance between what the company said and what it did.
"The other driver was distracted too." Expect it. The insurer will want your phone records as well. That's one reason not to give a recorded statement before talking to a lawyer, and not to guess about anything you aren't sure of.
The driver's history matters too
Phone violations follow a commercial driver. Under 49 CFR 383.51, a conviction for violating a state or local law that prohibits texting, or that restricts or prohibits hand-held phone use, while driving a commercial vehicle is on the list of serious traffic violations. A second conviction for any combination of those listed offenses, in separate incidents within a 3-year period, disqualifies the driver for 60 days; a third, for 120 days.
Why does that matter to you? A phone conviction is the kind of thing that turns up on a driver's record, and whether a carrier kept that driver in the seat anyway is a hiring and supervision question — the subject of my post on the driver qualification file and negligent hiring and my page on driver qualification and hours of service.
If you think the truck driver was on his phone
- Write down what you saw as soon as you can — a head bent down, a lit screen, a phone in a hand, the truck drifting before impact — and note the time.
- Get names and numbers of anyone who saw into the cab. A driver alongside the truck often saw more than you did.
- Photograph the tractor door, including the company name and any USDOT number painted there.
- Tell the officer what you saw so it makes it into the report.
- Don't give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer, and don't post about the crash.
- Talk to a lawyer early. Some of these records sit on short retention cycles, and every claim has a filing deadline — see Nebraska's statute of limitations.
Why truck crash victims choose me
Trucking cases are fought with records and regulations, and I know both. I go after phone logs, dispatch messages and company policies, and I hold carriers accountable when their business model puts distracted drivers on Nebraska highways. My clients have recovered more than $23 million, including a $5.4 million result, and they talk about that work in many five-star reviews. My firm was voted Best of Omaha for personal injury law in 2025 and 2026, and trucking insurers know I will take a case to trial.
If you were hurt by a semi on I-80, I-29, or any Nebraska or western Iowa road, talk to a Nebraska truck accident lawyer before the evidence disappears. Call me at (402) 378-9208 or reach out here. The consultation is free, and there's no fee unless I win.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a truck driver legally text or hold a phone while driving?
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations contain two short, blunt rules. Under 49 CFR 392.80, no driver shall engage in texting while driving a commercial motor vehicle. "Texting," as defined in 49 CFR 390.5, means manually entering text into, or reading text from, an electronic device.
- Does the federal phone ban apply when a truck is stopped at a light?
- The rule doesn't switch off when the wheels stop. For both the texting rule and the hand-held rule, "driving" includes sitting temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device, or other momentary delays.
- Can the trucking company be responsible for a driver's phone use?
- Here is the sentence that matters most in a lawsuit. Both rules have a second half: no motor carrier shall allow or require its drivers to text or use a hand-held phone while driving.
- What records can prove a truck driver was on the phone?
- Phone use rarely shows up in a police report. It shows up in records: the driver's cell phone carrier records, the company's dispatch and messaging logs, in-cab camera footage, and the truck's electronic data showing speed and braking in the seconds before impact. Put those side by side and a timeline emerges.
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Frank Younes
Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.
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