POLL: National Board Recommends Banning Phone Calls While Driving

It soon may be harder to make phone calls while driving around town. The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended states ban drivers from using cell phones and hands-free devices, including wireless headsets.

There currently is no state that has outright banned such devices while driving. The board said that drivers faced serious risks from talking on wireless headsets, just as they do by taking a hand off the wheel to hold a phone to their ear.

According to an article in today's New York Times, the National Transportation Safety Board based its recommendation on evidence of numerous crashes in which electronic distraction was a major contributing factor.

The New York Times articles stated that many polls show that while people continue to use their devices behind the wheel, they also widely consider such behavior to be extremely dangerous.

The ban is also noteworthy because it is the first call by a federal agency to end the practice completely, rather than the partial ban that some legislators have put in place by allowing hands-free talking, the New York Times wrote.