DES MOINES, Iowa — Last year, the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau conducted a survey at the Iowa State Fair asking drivers about their driving habits.
Over 51% of the 1,450 people who responded said they sometimes or always use their cell phone when driving.
Based on the number of registered drivers in Iowa, that translates to over 1.2 million distracted drivers.
Additionally, many respondents also said they think they are "good" at distracted driving.
Now, that data has led to a renewed campaign to end distracted driving.
"We're doing everything we can to try to convince people to get that cell phone out of their hands, focus on driving," said GTSB Bureau Chief Brett Tjepkes.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and this year, the GTSB is launching their 'No One's a Good Distracted Driver," campaign.
Tjepkes said the goal of the campaign is preventing traffic deaths.
"I think a lot of us believe that 'it's not going to happen to me.' But it does, it happens to a lot of people,” Tjepkes said. “377 people were killed on Iowa’s roadways last year."
Right now, in Iowa, it's illegal to text and drive, but there are situations where cell phone use is permitted. That's something the Iowa State Patrol wants to change.
"There's over 30 other states in the U.S. that are hands-free, and we want to make Iowa one of those states because we know that it makes it safer," said Sgt. Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol.
Drivers who are 18 years old and older are currently allowed to use their phones to make a call or for navigational purposes.
Hands-free legislation would make all hand-held phone usage illegal for drivers of all ages, making enforcement easier.
"There's little gray areas in the law right now that people and law enforcement have to sit there and figure out in just a split second what's going on,” he said.
The Iowa Bicycle Coalition is a longtime advocate for hands-free legislation, lobbying for the bill at the state capitol.
According to their Bicycle Crash Reports, three cyclists were killed in Iowa in 2023.
"It's the priority bill of the Department of Public Safety and we're the nonprofit champion partner for that. It's our number one policy priority to get this done,” said Luke Hoffman, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition.
He is a lifelong cyclist and said hands-free legislation would make the community safer for not only cyclists and pedestrians, but for everyone.
"Public safety is really important and we shouldn't have to wait until the worst thing happens for us to really care about it and do our due diligence to update the law where we can, it's about protecting lives," Hoffman said.
Currently, a Senate bill combines a hands-free driving proposal with a proposal that would ban traffic enforcement cameras.
That bill was placed on the Senate calendar under unfinished business in March.