The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee meets at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, to hear from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski regarding combating distracted driving. The House Highways and Transit Subcommittee meets at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, for a hearing on addressing the problem of distracted driving. A witness list is not yet available.

Senate CST Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, has thrown his support behind the effort to urge states to adopt cellphone and texting bans for motorists, the Los Angeles Times reported. Rockefeller has written a bill that would offer federal funds to states that enact laws against driving while texting or talking on a handheld device. States would also have to ban all cellphone use by drivers younger than 18. That incentive approach is different from another measure proposed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, that would require states to ban texting while driving or risk losing federal highway funds.

"We all know that the explosion of cellphone use and texting during the past few years has brought distracted driving to a new level of danger for all Americans on the road," Rockefeller said in a statement. "The rising numbers of deaths and injuries are alarming."

Rockefeller proposes offering states a total of $60 million in incentives over two years and having the federal government spend as much as $24 million on distracted-driving public-education campaigns. Presently only three states have laws that meet the bill's requirements: California, Connecticut, and Oregon.

A draft outline of Rockefeller's proposal would also require states to include distracted-driving questions on driver's license exams and to double the penalties for drivers who cause collisions while texting or talking on a cellphone.

In the House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY, introduced last month a bill (HR 3535) that would reduce the amount of federal highway funding available to states that do not enact a law prohibiting an individual from sending or receiving text messages while operating a motor vehicle. McCarthy's office said she is scheduled to testify at the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing next week.

"It is time for definitive regulations to combat distracted driving," McCarthy said in a statement. "Multitasking while operating a vehicle is dangerous and irresponsible, and it is time for standards to enforce responsible behavior."

D.C. Ban Has Helped Reduce Number of Drivers Using Cellphones

A study released last week by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that use of handheld cellphones by motorists in the nation's capital would be 43 percent higher today were it not for the District of Columbia's 2004 ban on the practice and strong enforcement by police.

D.C. police reported issuing 12,936 citations and 7,519 warnings to drivers using a handheld cellphone last year, The Washington Post reported.

Researchers concluded that handheld use dropped by 41 percent in Washington immediately and five years later remains 43 percent below where it would have been without the ban (based on statistical models). Both New York state and Connecticut recorded shaper declines in use just after their bans took effect, but more people resumed using them in those states with the passage of time.

"It appeared that stronger enforcement of the D.C. ban may have led to the sustained lower use rates compared with New York," according to the study.