Slowly but surely state legislators have recognized the danger of distracted driving due to cellphone use.

Hand-held cellphone use is now banned in 14 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia ban all cellphone use by teen or novice drivers.School bus drivers are prohibited from cellphone use in 20 states and in the nation's capital.Pennsylvania legislators got on board three years ago by enacting a text-messaging ban.Even though it was hailed as a step in the right direction by highway safety advocates, most of them agreed that the law did not go far enough.All use of hand-held cellphones while driving was in the original version of the bill, but that was removed before the final version passed.Making or answering a call is a similar distraction, research shows.While one earlier AAA study revealed that 95 percent of drivers agreed that reading or sending text messages while driving was dangerous, 35 percent of them admitted to doing it.Police can pull drivers over simply for texting while driving because it is a primary offense with a $50 fine upon conviction, but officers predicted in 2012 that enforcing the no-texting law would be a challenge.Calling on a cellphone is still legal plus police have to prove drivers are not using navigation or other electronic devices such as iPods.While the increase in distracted driving citations in Pennsylvania is encouraging, they are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of motorists who pass through the state talking on their cellphones.Studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Utah show that drivers who talk on their cellphones are three to four times more likely to be involved in crashes.Delaware County residents and other southbound motorists passing through the county on I-95 are regularly issued stern warnings via a digital sign about their fate should they use hand-held cellphones while driving through Delaware.It is about time Pennsylvania returns the favor with the same warnings for northbound travelers.The Daily Times