Summit to weigh limits on drivers’ use of mobile devices

WASHINGTON (AP) — With more drivers yakking on their cell phones or texting from behind the wheel, the Obama administration is taking its first hard look at highway hazards with an eye toward potential new restrictions on using mobile devices while driving.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is kicking off a two-day summit today involving researchers, automakers, safety advocates and lawmakers to find ways of preventing distracted driving from leading to widespread deaths and injuries. LaHood said he plans to make recommendations Thursday on ways federal and state governments, as well as safety groups, can address the distractions, pointing to previous approaches for drunken driving and seat belts.

Ultimately, LaHood said, he wants the summit to set “the stage for finding ways to eliminate texting while driving.”

“You see people texting and driving and using cell phones and driving everywhere you go, even in places where it’s outlawed, like Washington, D.C. We feel a very strong obligation to point to incidents where people have been killed or where serious injury has occurred,” LaHood said.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws making texting while driving illegal, and seven states and the district have banned driving while talking on a handheld cell phone, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Many safety groups have urged a nationwide ban on texting and on using handheld mobile devices while behind the wheel.