About 95 percent of drivers agree sending emails or texts while on the road is unacceptable, and 87 percent favor laws against texting while driving, according to the AAA Foundation’s 2011 Traffic Safety Culture Index.

But two studies show traffic safety has not improved in states with bans on cellphone use and texting while driving, according to two studies from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which car insurance companies fund to research ways to reduce the number of traffic accidents.

“Lawmakers should not expect a big safety payoff from these laws,” said Russ Rader, the group’s spokesman. “We’re just not seeing the effects we thought we would.”

Some lawmakers are trying other ways to curb distracted driving. An idea (SB 122) from Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, would require driver improvement and learner’s permit courses to include a segment on the hazards of using phones and other devices at the wheel. It passed its first committee hurdle Wednesday.

And Reps. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, and Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, have introduced a ban (HB 187/SB 930) on minors using cellphones on the road. Slosberg wants to include school bus drivers, as well.

While the full state Senate has been warm to the ban, having passed it in 2010, the House is another story.

Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, is behind Detert’s bill in the House. He has not yet persuaded his colleagues to bring it up.

Pilon, a former patrol officer and road supervisor, has tried winning over the chairman of the first House committee that will hear the proposal, Rep. Brad Drake, R-Eucheeanna. So far, no promises.

“He said, ‘Let’s talk about it,’ ” Pilon said, “so that was encouraging.”