As the research director at the DLCC, I have seen many bills on drivers, cell phones, and text-messaging introduced over the past several years in legislatures nationwide. We have all read news stories about tragic accidents with possible connections to cell-phone use, and we could all share anecdotes about distracted drivers we have seen.

But as laws went into effect at the beginning of this month in California and Washington State, I thought it might be interesting to start to get a big picture of legislation nationwide. (My goal is to start providing legislation overviews like this semi-regularly).

On July 1, 2008, California and Washington State joined three other states (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York) and the District of Columbia in banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, all of these laws -- except for Washington State’s -- are “primary enforcement” laws (meaning that they can be the sole reason for being pulled over). Also according to the GHSA, only four states (Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington) ban text-messaging, and 17 states as well as the District of Columbia have laws specifically restricting young drivers. The most interesting figure compiled by the GHSA is that there is not a single state that bans both hand-held and hands-free cell phone use for every driver -- not one.

There is a story in Tuesday’s New York Times about a second California law prohibiting motorists under the age of 18 from using both hand-held and hands-free cell phones. Thirteen other states have similar under-18 laws.

According to a recent story in USA Today, some researchers believe that it is the fact that one speaker (the driver) can see traffic and one (the person on the other end of the phone) cannot that causes a four-fold increase in crashes with injuries (a figure from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

Of course, the real question is whether a hands-free requirement really solves the distracted-driver problem. A spokesman for the GHSA argues that it does not.

Although there are still many unanswered questions about what kinds of laws really make drivers more focused and a larger philosophical debate about individual freedoms versus public safety, the popularity of such laws is strong. According to USA Today, Hawaii and Massachusetts are considering new legislation.