Proposals to restrict or ban the use of cellphones while driving were introduced in at least 41 states this year, up from 27 in 2000 and 15 in 1999, said senior policy analyst Matt Sundeen at the National Council of State Legislatures in Denver. Such bills "pretty much died on arrival" in the past couple of years, he said, but this year a number have moved through committees and even passed one house or another.
Nationally, Sen. Jon Corzine and Rep. Gary Ackerman, both Democrats, have introduced legislation that would withhold federal highway funds to states that fail to prohibit the use of handheld cell phones while driving.
A recent telephone poll by ABC News found 69 percent of the 1,027 respondents supported such bans, although 72 percent said drivers should be able to use hands-free phones. But not everyone agrees that hands-free is necessarily risk-free.
"It is the conversation that distracts the driver, not the device," Mark Edwards, managing director of traffic safety for the American Automobile Association, told a House of Representatives Transportation Committee panel last month.
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