SANFORD — Should Maine take the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendation and ban the use of cell phones and all other electronic devices by drivers?

Some drivers say yes, others, who drive a lot in the course of their employment, say no.

The measure could come before the Maine Legislature, most likely when a new House and Senate take office in 2013, legislators said.

“I think that’s the direction we need to go in,” said Sen. Bill Diamond, who sponsored a distracted driving law that took effect in 2009 and a texting bill that became law in September.

Previous attempts to prohibit drivers’ use of cell phones in Maine have failed to pass muster with the Legislature. A 2009 bill was soundly defeated by the Maine House in a 103-43 vote, and both houses eventually passed the distracted driving bill.

Last week, the NTSB said states should ban all driver use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices, except in emergencies. The recommendation, unanimously agreed to by the five-member board, applies to both hands-free and hand-held phones and significantly exceeds any existing state laws restricting texting and cell phone use behind the wheel.

Diamond, a Windham Democrat who is completing his fourth term as a state senator, said the recommendation by such an august body as the NTSB carries weight.

Proposed legislation to ban cell phones and other electronic devices as recommended by the NTSB won’t come before the Legislature this session, Diamond said. And when it does, as expected in the following session, Diamond won’t be around to introduce it because of term limits.

Likewise, neither will Rep. Joan Nass, an Acton Republican, but she too said she favors a ban.

“I don’t think people should be holding electronic devices and driving,” said Nass.

On a recent trip to Augusta, Nass said she took note of those drivers holding phones. It seemed, she said, the driver of every second car was holding a phone to their ear.

“It scares me to death,” she said.

Democrat Andrea Boland of Sanford ”“ who also has health concerns about cell phones associated with radiation and had proposed a bill that would mandate a warning sticker on mobile phones ”“ agrees with the NTSB’s proposal. She said studies have shown that even hands-free cell phone usage is no less distracting than holding a phone while driving.

“The concentration factor is an issue,” Boland said, who said she answered her cell while driving near Augusta one day, exceeded the speed limit and got a ticket.

At a Sanford Christmas fair on Sunday some expressed approval of the NTSB’s recommendation, others did not.

“The driver’s concentration should be fully on the road,” said Linda Gulnac, who favors a ban.

“Traffic is crazy enough,” said Stephanie Wilkins, “I’ve been almost hit so many times. It’s usually the texters. I do answer my cell phone when it rings, but I wouldn’t oppose a ban.”

Steve Cabana, a real estate agent who spends a lot of his work day in the car, said he agrees with the ban on texting but not on cell phone usage, and particularly not the proposed ban on hands-free telephone conversation.

“If you can’t talk on the phone, you probably shouldn’t have the radio on or a conversation (among passengers),” he said.

The NTSB made the recommendation in connection with a deadly highway pileup in Missouri last year. The board said the initial collision in the accident near Gray Summit, Mo., was caused by the inattention of a 19-year-old pickup driver who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the crash. The pickup, traveling at 55 mph, collided into the back of a tractor truck that had slowed for highway construction. The pickup was rear-ended by a school bus that overrode the smaller vehicle. A second school bus rammed into the back of the first bus. The pickup driver and a 15-year-old student on one of the school buses were killed. Thirty-eight other people were injured in the Aug. 5, 2010 crash.

The NTSB board has previously recommended bans on texting and cell phone use by commercial truck and bus drivers and beginning drivers, but it has stopped short of calling for a ban on the use of the devices by adults behind the wheel of passenger cars.

“We all know we shouldn’t do it, and we all do it,” said Diamond, of talking on a cell phone while driving. “People’s minds are somewhere else. I am glad this is coming up.”

— The Associated Press

contributed to this report. Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.