States should ban all drivers use of cellphones and other portable electronic devices, except in emergencies, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.

If adopted by states, 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 cellphone use behind the wheel.

In South Florida, drivers gave mixed responses to the idea of making it illegal to text or talk while driving.

“Yes!” Alexander Hernandez said in response to a Miami Herald Facebook query. “I’ve done it and honestly every time it’s scary. Not only are you texting but you’re also thinking what to text while texting instead of focusing on the road.”

Todd Stiff, a Miami Springs resident, disagrees. “No, these are distractions. Drivers that would get into trouble for lettings these things distract them would get into trouble from other distractions anyway,” he said in response to the query. “Besides, reckless driving and failure to control your vehicle are already available charges under the law.”

Facebook user Ilich Sanchez praised the iPhone 4s for its ability to text with voice, as a means to circumvent the proposal, and John Shannon said we don’t need any more laws restricting people’s rights.

“No way,” he said in a post. “Please, wake up, people: we don't need more police enforcement, infringements, tickets, etc.”

James Santoli, from Homestead, said a ban on texting alone won’t help.

“There are many distractions,” he wrote. “Are they going to ban radios, applying makeup, reading books in the car, etc ? It boils down to personal responsibility.”

At the capitol in Tallahassee, State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, who is currently sponsoring a bill that would prohibit kids under 18 from talking-while-driving, said Tuesday he wasn't confident the NTSB recommendation would go very far to move along his proposal, which he fears will die in an unfriendly House committee.

"Unfortunately for the state of Florida, all these road safety bills are bottled up in a drawer," Slosberg said.

He has made road safety his main issue in the legislature. His daughter died in a car crash several years ago, and for many years, he was best known for his effort to pass a bill allowing police to pull over drivers for not wearing a seatbelt, which eventually became law.

Slosberg is also the House sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the use of hand-held cellphones and other electronic devices – not just for texting, but any use – by drivers under 18 and people driving school busses, regardless of their age.

The NTSB said Tuesday that distracted driving, some of it due to cell phone use, contributed to nearly 4,000 highway deaths last year, citing data gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The board made the recommendation in connection with a deadly highway pile-up in Missouri last year. The board said the initial collision in the Aug. 5, 2010 accident near Gray Summit was caused by the inattention of a 19 year-old driver who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the crash.

His pick-up, traveling at 55 mph, collided into the back of a tractor truck that had slowed for highway construction. The pick-up was then rear-ended by a school bus on a field trip that overrode the smaller vehicle. A second school bus rammed into the back of the first bus.