Washington – The Governors Highway Safety Association on Sept. 6 updated its policy statement (.pdf file) on distracted driving to support a universal ban on handheld cell phone use while driving. The organization previously only supported a handheld ban for certain drivers, such as teens and bus drivers, and maintains its support for a universal texting ban.

A GHSA press release claims that in states with texting-while-driving bans, a handheld cell phone use ban will increase enforcement of texting bans because drivers previously would have had been able to claim they were dialing a phone number and not texting.

At press time, 39 states and the District of Columbia had bans on texting while driving and 10 states and the District of Columbia had a ban on handheld cell phone use while driving.