Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced yesterday that he would not support the National Transportation Safety Board proposal to ban all cell-phone use while operating a motor vehicle, even though he is still committed to combating distracted driving.

Last week, the NTSB urged states to prohibit the use of all cell phones and other portable electronic devices while driving. That means no texting or calling, not even from a hands-free device, while behind the wheel.

The NTSB made the recommendation in response to a deadly collision in Missouri last year that it blamed, in part, on a driver who was texting while operating the vehicle. The NTSB doesn't have the authority to impose restrictions, but its recommendations often influence federal regulators as well as congressional and state lawmakers.

While LaHood doesn’t condemn the NTSB initiative, he does say that it goes too far by calling for the ban of both hands-free and hand-held use. “Hands-free is not the big problem," LaHood recently told reporters.

LaHood prefers to focus on hand-held calls. In doing so, he has won the support of automakers, many which have spent billions of dollars on technologies such as Ford's Sync to keep drivers connected.

Across the country, 35 states have already passed laws restricting text messaging while driving, and nine require drivers to use hands-free devices while talking on the phone.

What do you think? Will banning mobile phone use help solve America’s distracted driving problem, or will it hinder people from doing their jobs, for example, and put a real crimp in their style?