Let's have a silent show of hands. Who doesn't think that use of cell phones by drivers is distracting?

We can't see you, but it's a fair guess that you haven't got your hand up. Almost everyone who has driven on the roads has encountered a motorist who is yakking on a cell phone with scant regard for safety.

These anecdotal incidents are backed up by numerous studies. As long ago as 1997, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study showing that talking on a cell phone makes a driver four times more likely to have an accident, a rate comparable to being drunk.

If drunks were as visible as cell-phone users on the roads, members of the Legislature would be urgently proposing laws to deal with the situation. But on cell phones, the process plods on, with the latest step being taken by the House Transportation Committee at a hearing Downtown on Wednesday.

The House committee session was about driving distractions, especially those affecting young drivers. Among the proposed measures on driver cell-phone use were House Bill 1827, prohibiting hand-held phones but permitting hands-free devices. HB 1506 would ban text messaging (now there's a good idea!).

Many states have passed restrictions on motorist cell-phone use, but none has a comprehensive ban on both hand-held phones and hands-free units. New York and New Jersey both prohibit the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, a safety standard Pennsylvania should emulate.

Pennsylvania lawmakers need to focus their efforts. Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, introduced a bill (SB 1097) last year that would ban drivers using hand-held cell phones and text-messaging, but it languishes in committee.

This can't be talked to death anymore. That's what cell-phone users are doing out on the road.