We can all agree, hopefully, that texting while driving is stupid, irresponsible and dangerous. Further, most sensible people support Connecticut’s ban on the use of handheld cellphones while driving. But should the state go all the way and ban the use of hands-free devices too?

That’s the recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board, which recently called for states to impose a total ban on the use of cellphones and text messaging devices while driving, handheld or not.

We suspect many residents had the same reaction Gov. Dannel P. Malloy did when he said, in effect, that the current law is adequate unless there are data to the contrary. As it happens, there is at least one study that says hands-free devices are as distracting as handheld phones.

A 2009 study by David L. Strayer and Frank A. Drews of the University of Utah reviewed the research and concluded that “equivalent deficits in driving performance were obtained for users of both handheld and hands-free cellphones.”

The researchers found that in-car conversation or listening to the radio was not distracting. But cellphone conversations can cause “inattention blindness.”

This study should spur the General Assembly to also study the question. From 2009 to 2010, Connecticut had the largest percentage increase in traffic fatalities in the country, a jump from 224 to 319, an increase of 42 percent, in a year when fatalities nationwide dropped to their lowest number in six decades. If distracted driving is pushing that number up, broader legislation might be in order.

The Hartford (Conn.) Courant