It is currently legal in 41 states allowing drivers to use cell phones, and a leading highway safety organization recommends keeping it that way.

The Governors Highway Safety Association, GHSA, believes states should not ban anything yet until effective research has been done by states.

“The problem is the research is conflicting on the issue,” executive director of the group Barbara Harsha says, who advises on safety traffic. “We don’t know if handheld bans are effective, and we don’t know if they actually make the problem worse.”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety last year said it found no reductions in crashes after the use of cell phones while driving was banned in California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington, D.C.

The National Safety Council believes handheld cell phones don’t expand and cover enough territory. “We think there is enough research to enact total bans, handheld, and hands-free,” say senior director of transportation initiatives at the NSC David Teater. “And there’s no evidence that hands-free devices provide any safety impact.”

The federal agency that tracks road deaths, otherwise known as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says “we feel strongly there is robust evidence on the dangers of distracted driving,” says the administration’s director of communications.

The GHSA had made its recommendations after looking at research on distracted driving since the year 2000, which are about 350 studies.

This of course led to questions from governors and state legislators who are trying to unravel the unfolding aspects of road safety.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made curbing distracted driving as a severe issue.

Some corporations are also trying to restrict the use of cellphones from employees while being in company vehicles. The use of cell phones is limited among federal workers.

Nine states and the District of Columbia have banned cell phones for all drivers, which makes the greatest motive from lawmakers.

Texting while driving is still illegal in 34 states, not including the District of Columbia. Twelve states had it banned in 2009, and 11 banned it last year, but only two have so far this year.

No states currently ban all cell phone use by all drivers of all ages.