Poll: Ban Personal Electronic Devices While Driving?

This week the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on personal electronic devices while driving, according to an article on PCMag.com. The ban would apply to talking on the telephone, sending and reading text messages. 

Both hand-held and hands-free devices would be banned under the proposal. Emergency calls and GPS navigation systems would be allowed.

The NTSB recommendation emerged from a board meeting during which an August 2010 multi-vehicle accident in Missouri caused by a distracted driver was evaluated.

Georgia already prohibits texting while driving.

"More than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents," NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said in a statement quoted in the PCMag.com article. "It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving."

"No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life," she said.

The NTSB is an independent agency that investigates transportation accidents and makes recommendations on safety-related issues. It has no authority to regulate use of personal electronic devices. A lawmaker, however, could conceivably use the agency's recommendations in crafting legislation, according to the PCMag.com article.

In an article Tuesday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, said that "states aren't ready to support a total ban yet, but this may start the discussion."