The federal government is setting the stage for the next step up in restrictions on the use of cellphones while driving. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) came out today with a recommendation that all states should make driving and using cellphones a traffic violation; either for texting, or talking. The agency says the ban should apply to all devices, including those that are hands free.

Factory installed devices would be exempt, but the only other exception would be if a driver needed to make an emergency call.

The recommendation does not carry any strength of law. The NTSB can only recommend the rule. It's up to each state to pass the legislation. What this could mean for Connecticut will have to be seen.

It is already against Connecticut law for people 18 and older to use a hand-held phone or any other mobile electronic device when driving unless it's equipped for hands-free operation. Drivers younger than 18 are banned from using any type of device that might be distracting, whether it has hands-free equipment or not. Persons convicted of cellphone violations can face a 30-day suspension of their license and additional driver training.

Connecticut law does allow some exceptions. Calls made in emergency situations, or by emergency response personnel on the job are OK. Radios are OK, as are installed devices such as GPS or emergency road side assistance devices and back-seat video displays.

To be clear, the law specifically defines mobile devices as any hand-held or portable device that has the ability to provide data communication between two or more individuals. That covers phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and computers.

The NTSB acknowledges its new recommendation will not be popular, but it says the evidence about how distracting mobile devices are when used on the road is mounting and that the time is right for this kind of action. As NTSB head Deborah A.P. Hersman put it, "No call, no text, no update is worth a human life."

Source: The New York Times, "U.S. Safety Board Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers," Matt Richtel, Dec. 13, 2011