FILE - In this Friday, March 26, 2010 picture, Kentucky State Police investigate the scene of an accident involving a tractor-trailer and a van on Interstate 65, four miles north of Horse Cave, Ky. National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011 said that 45-year-old truck driver Kenneth Laymon of Jasper, Ala., had just made an outgoing call that lasted one second before the his truck struck a van carrying a Mennonite family and friends to a wedding in Iowa. (AP Photo/Daily News, Joe Imel) MANDATORY CREDIT
FILE - In this Friday, March 26, 2010 picture, Kentucky State Police investigate the scene of an accident involving a tractor-trailer and a van on Interstate 65, four miles north of Horse Cave, Ky. National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011 said that 45-year-old truck driver Kenneth Laymon of Jasper, Ala., had just made an outgoing call that lasted one second before the his truck struck a van carrying a Mennonite family and friends to a wedding in Iowa. (AP Photo/Daily News, Joe Imel) MANDATORY CREDIT
FILE - This undated family photo provided by Jessie Crabtree shows, back row from left: Anna Esh, John Esh, Amos Esh and his wife Mary and Abner Esh. At front row from left are Rachel Esh, Sadie Esh, Betty Esh and Rose Esh. Anna, John, Rachel, Sadie and Rose. All died in the fatal vehicle accident on Interstate 65 early Friday morning March 26, 2010, near Munfordville, Ky., involving a tractor-trailer and a van. National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011 said that 45-year-old truck driver Kenneth Laymon of Jasper, Ala., had just made an outgoing call that lasted one second before his truck struck a van carrying the group, who were on their way to a wedding in Iowa. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Jessie Crabtree) NO SALES
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Truckers and other commercial drivers should be banned from talking on the phone and texting when they are behind the wheel, a federal safety agency decided Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board gave its recommendation at a hearing in Washington after ruling that a truck driver using his cellphone caused a crash that killed 11 people on a Kentucky interstate in 2010. The board said the ban should include using hands-free devices.
Kenneth Laymon, 45, of Jasper had just made a one-second call that at the time of the March 26, 2010, crash on Interstate 65 near Munfordville, Ky., the board said.
Investigator David Rayburn said Laymon panicked and hit the brakes but didn't try to steer his tractor-trailer out of the median. The 38-ton truck drove into the oncoming lanes and smashed head-on into a van carrying a Mennonite family and friends to a wedding in Iowa.
Laymon and 10 people in the van were killed in the fiery crash. Two young children in safety seats were the only survivors.
The NTSB was told that Laymon had been talking and texting in the hours leading up to the early morning crash.
The NTSB doesn't have the power to ban cellphone use and texting so it sent its recommendation the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and all 50 states for action. Kentucky is among 34 states that have barred texting for all drivers but it doesn't outlaw cellphone calls behind the wheel. The proposed ban would cover commercial truck drivers and bus drivers.
The NTSB voted to accept conclusions from staff investigators that the accident was caused because the truck driver was distracted by his cell phone.
It also found that driver fatigue and the failure of cable barriers along the median contributed to the fatalities.
Federal authorities said Laymon left Lansing, Mich., at about 4 p.m. on March 25, 2010. The wreck happened roughly 13 hours and 437 miles after he left.
"We do know he was engaged in using, operating his cellphone," investigator Dennis Collins said. "Something involved with the use of that cellphone diverted his attention from the driving task and led to the accident."
Autopsy tests on Laymon came back negative for alcohol or drug use.
The victims were 22-year-old Joel Gingerich, 22, and his 20-year-old fiancee, Rachel Esh, who were riding in the van. Also killed were John Esh, 64, owner of a vinyl-building business in Marrowbone; his 62-year-old wife, Sadie; their daughters, Rose, 40, and Anna, 33; their son and daughter-in-law, Leroy Esh, 41, and Naomi Esh, 33, and their adopted infant son; and family friend Ashlie Michelle Kramer, 22.
Several relatives of the Mennonite victims attended Tuesday's hearing. At one point they were advised to step outside before some graphic evidence was shown.
Investigator Rayburn said that the stretch of highway where the crash happened had a cable barrier along the median but it wasn't designed to stop a vehicle that weighed so much and was going so fast. Laymon was traveling about 70 mph, the speed limit for that stretch of highway, the NTSB said.
After the wreck, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shut down Laymon's employer, Hester Inc., of Fayette, Ala.
Federal records show the agency conducted 194 driver inspections on drivers for Hester Inc. over 30 months. They resulted in 21 drivers being taken out of service for log book violations, exceeding the 11-hour driving limit or the 14-hour on duty limit.
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Associated Press writer Brett Barrouquere is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBarrouquereAP
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