To text or not to text? Should lawmakers decide?

If you're one of those who text messages and talks on the cell phone while you're driving, AAA Auto Club South has a message. Please stop.

The organization is making a new push to draw attention to cell phone usage and text messaging in the car, saying it's a distraction that can cause traffic accidents and deatsh.

"For the safety of everyone, nothing less than 100% participation should be acceptable," says Tom O'Brien, President and CEO of AAA Auto Club South. AAA has a national call for passage of state laws banning text messaging. (32 states have no such laws.) O'Brien says the group's goal is that all states would have "no-texting-while-driving laws on the books by 2013."

"We're trying to draw attention to the motoring public on the pitfalls of driving while distracted," O'Brien tells me. "Particularly text messaging. How can you safely drive an automobile when your hands are not on the wheel and your eyes are not on the road?"

O'Brien says in some ways he believes this should be a no-brainer and "that's why we want to encourage motorists now to have more safe driving behaviors."

AAA Auto Club South is joining the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in calling on all drivers to pledge their participation in Heads Up Driving Week beginning Monday, Oct. 5 through Sunday, Oct. 11. During that week drivers will be urged to rethink their driving behavior and take the first step toward becoming distraction-free by "trying it for a week and doing it for life."

State Representative Ron Stephens of Savannah acknowleges his cell phone is an important tool that he has used in his own car. "I can text pretty fast," he says with a smile as we talk about the issue of safety. "But I think everyone needs to look at this habit and if they're texting in the car, change it."

Stephens believes the House at least would support some type of legislation. "Because frankly, people are getting killed. In Atlanta, you can be going 70 miles per hour one second and have to put on the brakes the next. All it takes is a second to get in trouble. In texting, you are taking your eyes off the road."

Stephens says with changes in technology, he does think there would need to be careful attention paid to any legislation. "Things are changing so fast. There will be text to voice before you know it and maybe we won't need a law at all."

He does say he would certainly support legislation to prohibit teenagers from using cell phone use and texting while driving.

Triple A South says it should be about common sense and safety. "We're advocating for laws to be passed which are going to be safer for the motoring public. When it comes to cell phone use in general, we want to let the motorist know that it's another form of distracted driving."