Feds Beg Drivers: No Calls, No Texts, No Phones in Car

Federal safety investigators are begging all drivers to finally put down the phone.

California state law bans drivers from using the phones while driving -- that means no calls, no texting, not even at a red light. But that hasn't stopped drivers from regularly communicating while commuting.

So now the feds are going to try -- to plead with us to put our phones down.

Using a cell phone while driving is just too dangerous to be allowed at any time, according to the federal investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board, who recommend all states follow the lead of places like California and enact total bans on phone-using while behind the wheel, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

A total of 35 states ban texting while driving, but some, like California, do allow the use of hands-free devices like earpieces. Those, too, are too dangerous to be allowed anymore, says the NTSB, which is begging states to kibosh that practice as well.

The agency cannot make laws, but can urge communities to do so.

Perhaps incredibly, despite some prominent accidents -- like the Southern California train operator who was texting before the crash which killed 25 people, and the teens in Washington state and Missouri who sent a flurry of texts before dying at the wheel -- the use of cell phones while driving is actually increasing, the NTSB said.

It's also become routine for crash investigators to request cell phone records. So if you dial and drive -- and die -- everyone will know.

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